Deliverance
by Eirian1
Summary: Keller works with Todd to cure Sheppard, but the research reveals a questionable course of action, wherein ethics and loyalties become strained. contains themes some may find disturbing. You have a back button! Virtual Season 5 Episode 8 NC-17
1. Act 1

Author's disclaimer: I do not own _Stargate Atlantis_ and its associated characters. MGM does, for which, for the most part, they have my utmost respect. No copyright infringement is intended in writing these stories.

My deepest respect also goes to the talented actors that brought to life the characters we see in _Stargate Atlantis._ My portrayal of the characters here is based on my perception of the work of Joe Flanigan, Jason Momoa, Rachel Luttrell, Paul McGillion, David Hewlett, Robert Picardo, Connor Trinneer and Christopher Heyerdahl. Without these people and those that came before them, there would have been no _Atlantis_ as we know it today.

With the exception of personal interpretation and expansions, extracts from existing episodes of the series remain the copyright of the story and teleplay writers: Joe Malozzi, Paul Mullie, Brad Wright, Robert C Cooper, Martin Gero, Mary Kaiser, Damian Kindler, Peter DeLuise, Jill Blotevogel, Carl Binder, Kerry Glover, Sean Carley, Treena Hancock, Melissa R. Byer, Joe Flanigan, Ken Cuperus, Don Whitehead, Holly Henderson, Ken Cuperus, Scott Nimerfro, Alan McCullough, Alex Levine, and David Schmidt.

Other assorted original characters (i.e. those that don't really appear in the show) are my own creation, and they, along with the original material presented here are © Eirian Phillips 2009.

Story is rated for mature readers, according to whatever rating system is adopted these days for Fan Fiction. It changes on a site by site basis… It was so much easier way back when…

There may be other virtual seasons of _SGA_ out there in cyberspace. Some may even be unofficially official. However, as a writer, I don't believe that this should discourage others from having their own ideas about things. Mine are presented here.

I can be reached at Feedback is always welcome and emails are usually answered.

Characters and events are purely fictitious, and any similarity to anyone living, transformed, dead, cloned or in any alternate universe or timeline is entirely coincidental.

Stargate Atlantis

**Deliverance**

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

_"…Which is, as we know, exactly how the Wraith evolved. I mean, iratus bug bites human, human DNA mixes with theirs, a thousand years go by, Wraith."_

"So, what? They're tryin' to create more Wraith?"

"That doesn't make any more sense. If they wanted to create more Wraith, wouldn't it be easier to get a male and female to, you know, get a room?"

"It doesn't work that way with the Wraith, all right? At least, we don't think it does. We're not entirely sure as to the Wraiths' reproductive methods."

_McKay, Dex and Sheppard – Vengeance_

**Previously On Stargate Atlantis:**

"What does the Queen want?" Vega asked suddenly

Michael let out a throaty little half chuckle. "Now we come to it."

"Well, do you blame me?" she asked emotionally. "You said this was your Hive. You've probably known her longer than anyone else here. Why the hell does she keep us around? Okay, we pamper her, fetch and carry, but half the time she pushes us into the arms of her commanders who are just as likely to kill us as… anything else." She swallowed hard at the look he gave her; somewhere between wry amusement and, she thought, sorrowful recollection. "She obviously wants something from _you_ because like you said, if she didn't you'd already be dead, but… Vain as she is, I find it hard to believe she just… keeps us around for the mere… indulgence of having on demand comfort. Hedonistic she might be, but she's not _that_ vacuous."

"To understand that," he answered darkly, "you must first understand the evolution of the Wraith."

**

Todd let out the low rumbling that Vega had come to know was his sound of agreement, before he said, "I told you that the Queen seeks evolution. She has been… preparing herself, plans to further her own bloodline with the production of a Queen, her… daughter, as you would say."

She turned to him then, frowning. Almost angrily, accusatorily, she asked, "You didn't!"

Todd blinked, then looked at her seriously for a moment before he put back his head, and laughed.

"My dear Alicia," he said, sobering quickly, "she has someone far removed from me in mind for that task, I can assure you."

**

Todd turned back, his body automatically inclined to put his head lower than the Queen's. She did not move, nor speak until the Hive Commander had turned the corner at the end of the hallway, then she came to Todd, sliding her hands from his belly to the tops of his shoulders and he straightened at her touch.

"You understand more than you have spoken…" she said.

_=of my purpose= =my purpose= =purpose=_

Her voice dripped amused, yet threatening tones over him. He fought to keep his own responses from driving him to act. He was Wraith, yes, but he refused to be a creature of instinct. Besides which, she was right – still, his own, stubborn pride would not allow her to toy with him like that, and as he had once before, he grasped her wrists, and spun her around in his arms, pulling her closer, and holding her through her struggles.

"I understand you have another in mind," he growled against the side of her head. "But first you must subdue him…"

_~to your will~ ~your will~ ~will~_

**

"You're insane," Sheppard growled, and struggled even more with the restraints. Dread filled his gut, threatened to suffocate him, and he began to feel the bile rising in his throat, seeking a way out. He clenched his teeth against the rising nausea.

"So I have been told," Michael said, and began to cross the room toward him. "You should save your strength, Colonel. You will need it in the hours to come. Doctor Keller…"

"Please, Sheppard, listen to him," she came closer to him, laid a hand on his arm as though she thought that would convince him to acquiesce. "I can give you a sedative. Make it easier on y—"

"Don't you _dare_!" he snapped, turning his head toward her so quickly it sent a shooting pain down the entire side of his body. "There's no _way_ I'm becoming one of this maniac's creatures, I—"

He stopped as he felt Michael's hand press against the side of his head, holding it to the side, facing Keller.

"So be it," he said calmly.

"Michael, don't!" Sheppard cried out as he felt the cold sting of the needle against his neck. "Not—"

He felt as though Michael had injected liquid fire into his bloodstream as the serum raced through his veins, igniting the inferno in his brain that stole the oxygen from his lungs. Even so he somehow managed the agonised cry that escaped his lips as his muscles tensed and his body began to convulse. He bit his tongue, and tasted blood in his mouth.

"You motherfu—" he growled, unable to finish as a wave of pain stole what little breath he had managed to snatch, until he could manage another sharply indrawn breath, "I'm gonna kill you!"

**

"Please, Todd," she whispered, her voice full of pain and fear, "don't let me die."

Todd breathed out long and slow. He frowned, and barely tilted his head at her appeal. It would be easy to do that – to turn the situation around and report to the Queen that The Abomination had planted a poisoned apple in their midst and that he had been the instrument of the Queen's salvation, the removal of the threat to her, in discovering the infection in the girl.

"Please…" she whispered again.

On the other hand, her death would weaken his position; his ability could be called into question, and perhaps his resources limited only to those he needed in connection with his work for the Queen. He would no longer have the satisfaction of knowing that at any moment the Queen could make a fatal mistake and that his could be the power to save her, and displace all those that would come before him.

Todd unfastened the clasp on his coat and shrugged off the heavy garment, beginning to roll up one of the sleeves of the shirt he wore underneath. As he did he approached the alcove where the hybrid was still chained in place, and passed his hand over the sensor to release the lock. "You will have to help me…"

**

…She barely felt him lift her against him, his hand behind her head, holding her close against his shoulder, and wrapping his other arm behind her back. She shuddered against him, her fingers making claws against his arms as she clung to him, crying out as the beating of her heart sent the burning serum through her body.

"Kill or cure…" she heard the hybrid's words echo round the room, "the only two possibilities in nature."

**

Another thought occurred to him. He had no notion of whence it came, or why in that moment he should begin to wonder on it, but it was a thought that profoundly disturbed him. He could not afford the distraction this concubine had become, and yet, with this new line of reasoning, neither could he afford not to follow the enquiry to its conclusion. Leaving the computer to work on the simulation following the initial stages of manipulation of the retrovirus, he reached for the vial of Vega's blood he had in stasis, and began to run an exhaustive genetic analysis, which he could then compare with that of Wraith.

He let out another long, almost hissed sigh, on the end of the breath he finally voiced his thoughts. "Alicia Vega, what are you to me?"

**

"She warned you then?" the Hive Commander spat bitterly by way of an answer.

"Of course she did," Todd answered, not putting up any pretence of ignorance as to the Commander's words. "Why wouldn't she?"

"I would have thought that, by now, she would have learned to keep her silence in matters between Wraith." the Hive Commander growled, taking a step toward Todd.

"It just goes to prove that you know so very little about Humans," he said, and carefully, without making any obvious movements, slipped the knife from the sheath at his back hidden in the layers of his coat.

"I know enough about _that_ Human to know that she is not at all what she seems," the Hive Commander said coldly, "And I assure you—"

"Don't make promises you cannot keep," Todd interrupted with more than a little sarcasm colouring his voice and his thoughts.

Angered, the Hive Commander's barely held self-control snapped and he flew at Todd. Todd responded with an upward sweep of his arm, revealing the knife in his hand as he did so, and the Hive Commander barely had time to raise a defensive arm, before falling back to drop into a half crouch, drawing both of his own knives as he did so, but not before he had blotted at the bloody slice to the underside of his chin.

**

"I know what you're going to say, Todd. The Queen… sent me to you, so that we, well… you know." she blushed and couldn't bring herself to say it.

"So that we would have the opportunity to engage in sexual activities… Yes."

She swallowed. He was so matter of fact about something so… intimate to her, that she couldn't help colouring from the tips of her ears to the soles of her feet. "Such a romantic," she joked, trying to cover her embarrassment.

"Romance is a human notion, Alicia Vega," he said softly.

Vega flinched as Todd's hands settled on her shoulders, and he swept her loose hair aside. Behind her he leaned closer, and she jumped again as she felt his breath against the side of her cheek.

"I thought I said to trust me," he said very softly.

"Yes, but," she whimpered a little as his right hand moved across the top of her chest, the warmed metal scraping slightly against her skin. "Why like this?"

"Wraith males will always first approach a female in this way."

The flicker of an image, never clear, as if through a fog, began to form in her mind before it was snatched away suddenly, before Todd raised her wrist to meet the light nip of his teeth against the softness of her flesh.

She gasped and then moaned as he repeated the gesture. She found herself almost falling into only the awareness of the heat of it, the slight sharpness that burned the length of her, and in sudden fear of where it might lead, she pulled away.

**

"Stay where you are, Alicia. Do not come any closer." He stopped at the side of the workbench and leaned on it, breathing deeply, even as he held out his hand to signal that she should stop.

She froze at his words, and frowned as she watched him visibly fighting with something, struggling to pull himself together.

"I have just come from the Queen," he rumbled. "I cannot guarantee that you are safe from me. At a time like this, being in close proximity to a Queen can drive Wraith to madness. A commander among Wraith, those of us with individuality…" he paused to take a breath, "…those of us with the ability to…"

His voice trailed away into nothing, and he closed his eyes. He stood very still, and Vega began to worry even more as she tried to make sense of everything that he had only halfway said, and everything else that had gone before.

**

"Todd, stop! Stop!" she struggled with him. It was futile as he was far stronger than she could ever hope to master. In the end, pinned as she was, she did the only thing she could to try and shock him out of his stupor.

Her free hand flashed up under his incoming arm and she grabbed his chin, pulling his face down toward hers. Then, standing on the tips of her toes, all but falling against him, she pressed a sudden, fierce kiss against his lips.

**

"You accuse me of actions beyond my ability," he told her, his voice low.

"But—" she started. "I don't understand. I felt her in my mind… pulling at everything I felt. That was private, it—"

She turned and walked away from him, further into the bathing chamber, wrapping her arms around herself. Frustrated tears began to spill onto her cheeks. She felt him follow, and for a moment tensed as he slid his hands down her arms, to slide beneath them and enfold her in his embrace, his hands against her waist.

"No, my little one, you do not," he said softly, gently.

"Then, _please_, Todd," she breathed, leaning back into his arms, craving his warmth as a protection from her confusion, "explain it to me."

"You and I do not share such a bond that would allow me to touch your mind from such a distance as we were from one another," he said softly. "Look at me, Alicia. Your fear binds you. You believe that simply because I am Wraith, I will hurt you."

She shook her head, afraid to turn, afraid of what might become of her if she allowed but one moment of madness to overcome the resistance of logic against the press of emotion; to break down the warring of the two inside of her. What the one wanted, the other repelled.

"Our two species are not…" he purred in her ear, cutting off the voice of her fear.

_~mutually exclusive~ ~mutually exclusive~ ~mutually exclusive~_

**

"I need to know how you did it; where you found your solution."

The Renegade's nostrils flared, his chest rising and falling in rapid succession under Todd's hand.

"…can't…" he gasped.

"I think you can," Todd said. "Otherwise I will have no choice but to give you the strength you need… to take the treatment again."

"No," he whispered.

"Then tell me."

The Renegade closed his eyes, and breathed out a soft, resigned sigh, before he said, "Eighteen, zero-five, forty-eight – negative thirty, twenty-five, twenty-six."

"Spatial Coordinates – very good," Todd said and climbing to his feet he gestured to the two drones waiting by the door.

**

"The order for the destruction of the human settlement came not from me, but from the Queen. She—"

"Oh, sure, that's right," Keller said, "Hide behind the Queen – just following orders… Very—"

She broke off with a small scream that was echoed by the repeating trill of Ronon's blaster as the Satedan stepped forward, menacing Todd who caught her flailing hand and her against him. He held her, one hand against her chest, the other curled beneath her chin.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," Todd advised. If he was intimidated by the Satedan's blaster pointing at his face, he didn't show it. "If you shoot me, I may not have time to feed on her, but… a slight twitch of my hand—"

Keller felt as though she was going to pass out at any moment, or shake herself apart with trembling. The Wraith's fingers pinched against her neck and chin as they moved, travelling along the corridor to the outside air, and the metal at one fingertip dug in painfully, until she had to close her fingers around his wrist to try and ease the pressure he exerted. His hand at the top of her chest curled slightly, pressing still more painfully against her flesh.

"Forgive the necessity," he murmured into her hair, and as he let her go, she felt him press something small and hard into her left hand and close her fingers over it. Then he gave her a sudden push, and she stumbled away from him. She fell to her knees and dry-heaved into the dirt.

**

"Todd gave me some kind of serum to stop the spread of the retrovirus Michael injected me with." He had to stop as another wave of pain hit him. Through gritted teeth he took several deep breaths trying to banish the pain before he said, "The Gate or coming back here seems to have neutralised it. Keller, you have to synthesise i—"

He broke off as the pain became blinding, for a moment reaching right from his gut to the middle of his brain. Every one of his muscles clenched against the fire flowing through him, much worse than before, but he refused to give in to it, growling to push it away he forced out the rest of the words, "…And fast! God! And someone needs to get… to New Athos… to check on Teyla."

"Teyla?" Woolsey frowned, lost in the confusion of Sheppard's words.

Ronon however frowned at him as though he had just suggested the most terrible thing in the world.

"I just wanna be sure," Sheppard gasped, throwing back his head.

**

"Mister Woolsey… Colonel," Amelia interrupted softly, "We've received a coded subspace message. It came via the relay station on M5G-227."

Sheppard exchanged a worried frown, first with Amelia, and then with McKay and Ronon.

"From… Todd?" he asked, shivering a little at the horrible sense of coincidence.

"Yes," Amelia answered nodding, "from Todd. He wants to meet with you, Colonel."

**

For a time, Todd stood watching in silence as the Wraith Guardian, and the Young Queen remained locked in the desperation of her condition. Finally he spoke.

"I should simply kill you where you stand for your failure, your weakness," he addressed the Guardian, "and put your queen out of her misery."

As soon as he heard the voice out of the darkness, the Guardian turned, striking with the knife toward Todd's face. It was an easy attack for Todd to counter, and he grabbed the Wraith Guardian's wrist, slapping the weapon away with the other hand. Then he twisted the wrist he held and swept the Wraith's supporting leg out from under him with his foot, bringing the weakened commander to his knees before him.

As a signal of his superiority, Todd thrust his feeding hand against the Guardian's chest, and then halting all motion, said, "Instead I offer you a proposal."

_~I offer you a proposal~ ~offer a proposal~ ~proposal~_

"What is it you want?" the Wraith Guardian hissed.

"Surrender yourself to my command." Todd demanded softly.

"Why should I listen to you?" the Guardian growled bitterly, and Todd could tell that he was already considering the benefits of such a proposal. "What could you _possibly_ offer in return for such a gift?"

Todd tilted his head, looking past the Wraith Guardian, to the pale Young Queen sitting on her pauper's, rock carved throne and growled his answer softly into the darkness.

"Deliverance from this _miserable_ existence, a Hive… and life for your Queen."

***

_"There is much about Wraith that you do not know…"_

_Todd, Common Ground._

**Act 1**

Sheppard glanced over at Keller. She sat in the back of the Jumper across from where he lay on the other bench. She was tense, on edge. Clearly she didn't want to be here and he wasn't really surprised. The last time she'd seen Todd he'd grabbed her to use as a hostage. It was the kind of thing guaranteed to spook a girl, but Woolsey had insisted as soon as Sheppard had made it clear that he was going to be there at the meeting with Todd whether the base commander liked it or not.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," he said, leaning up on his elbows a little bit.

"He's a Wraith," Keller answered. "How can you just trust him like this?"

"He's Todd," Sheppard answered, with a bit of a shrug, then finding it too painful to be that way, and wanting to save what strength he had to be able to meet with Todd on his feet, he lay back down with a sigh.

"You need something for the pain?" Keller asked, coming across the small gap toward him, but he shook his head.

"I need to be alert when we meet with Todd," he said.

"I thought you said it'd be okay," Keller said, and her voice trembled a little bit.

"And it will," Sheppard said, "but like you said, he's a Wraith, and it doesn't hurt to… be alert."

"Don't worry, Jennifer," Ronon said, stepping into the back of the Jumper from his latest patrol of the area. "Todd makes a move toward anyone he'll answer to me."

Sheppard pushed away Keller's hands and started to sit up, glaring at Ronon. "There'll be no 'answering to' anyone," he said sharply, "We're here to find out what the deal is; what he wants, and remembering that we need his help too, we—"

"We don't need _anything_ from him," Ronon interrupted. "Jennifer is just as capable of dealing with this. We should let her do that, not go… running to the enemy."

"Todd's not… necessarily… the enemy," Sheppard said. He was fighting the griping pains that had begun in his gut again. It may be that he would _have_ to ask Keller for another shot.

"He's a _Wraith!_" Ronon said, the exasperation clear in his voice. "When will you people lear—?"

"We need. His _help_!" Sheppard said again, interrupting.

"I hate to say it, Ronon," Jennifer said softly before Ronon could argue again, "But John might be right this time. Even with the sample of his blood, whatever the other Todd gave him was already terribly degraded by the time I got to analyse it, just like the serum that Michael was giving to Beckett. I—"

"Gate's activating!" McKay called from the front of the Jumper.

"We're still cloaked, right?" Sheppard suddenly worried.

"Yes, yes… we're still cloaked, why do you ask?" McKay gave Sheppard a worried look, and then turned back to the console, typing commands and cross referencing with the computer tablet that he had in his lap. It seemed to be a perpetual attachment to the scientist, even more so in recent weeks.

Sheppard had looked past him, out of the Jumper window to watch as the Wraith Dart came through the, now active, Stargate and settled lightly onto the ground a little way from the clear space in front of it. Barely a second later Todd, and two Wraith sub-commanders, materialised beside the Dart, all but looking in their direction.

"Oh just… asking," Sheppard said. "May as well de-cloak now in any case. He's gonna know where we are the minute we step from the Jumper."

**

The thought of it filled Jennifer with a growing dread. Swallowing she spoke up. "But if we de-cloak, what if he decides to use the Dart's weapons to… to fire on the Jumper we—"

"Jennifer," Sheppard turned and took her by the arms, leaning down to look into her eyes, as if he were trying to steady her. "We'll be all right. He contacted _us_, remember?"

"Right… yes…"

She took a deep breath to pull herself together, but it was a struggle, and evidently Sheppard saw that and said quietly, "Look, maybe it'd be better if you… stayed in the Jumper – just until we find out what it is he wants."

"No. No, I…" she said, pushing a strand of hair back from her face, "I'm good, and if you say it'll be fine, then… I'm sure it will be. It's just that… he's a Wraith, and—"

"You just gotta remember he's Todd too," Sheppard said, obviously trying to lighten the atmosphere with his tone. "Me and this guy… we go way back."

"Sure you do," Jennifer agreed, giving his arm a squeeze as she took another breath. She only wished she could feel more comforted by that fact than she did. "So… we going to do this?"

"Rodney," Sheppard ordered.

"I'm on it," McKay answered, and Jennifer, watching past McKay's shoulder, saw the Wraith straighten as the Jumper de-cloaked. Even with the relative safety of distance she couldn't help but swallow hard as she looked on Todd.

She remembered his scent, a dangerously biting mix of cinnamon spice and warmed leather – the hardness of his body as he held her, the menace and the power in it, in _him._

_Keller felt as though she was going to pass out at any moment, or shake herself apart with trembling. The Wraith's fingers pinched against her neck and chin as they moved, and the metal at one fingertip dug in painfully, until she had to close her fingers around his wrist to try and ease the pressure he exerted. His hand at the top of her chest curled slightly, pressing still more painfully against her flesh._

She remembered feeling the pulse of his blood beneath her fingertips as she grasped his wrist, the answering shock that ran through hers, and the accompanying, almost immediate response in her body as his breath had flowed over her, as he craved her absolution.

_"Forgive the necessity," he murmured into her hair, and as he let her go, she felt him press something small and hard into her left hand and close her fingers over it. Then he gave her a sudden push, and she stumbled away from him. She fell to her knees and dry-heaved into the dirt, and Ronon and Sheppard both came to her side._

It had been that, more than the very real fear that he was going to feed on her, that had filled her with nausea as soon as he had gone. Seeing him now, real and as large as life brought it all rushing back.

"Hey, Jennifer," Ronon's call brought her back to the present with a jolt. "You coming?"

Jennifer fixed a smile onto her face, and nodding, followed him out.

**

Todd stood motionless watching as the four of them approached his small party of Wraith, appraising them in light of all that had passed between them these past years. The scientist, McKay, was clearly on edge, defensive and kept glancing at Sheppard in concern. There was something wrong. In fact he could almost smell the fear and tension in the air.

His eyes shifted to regard Sheppard. He was pale. Around his eyes the skin was almost grey and there was evidence of stress in the way the veins around his face and neck seemed swollen. Todd narrowed his eyes, recognising, but not believing what he was seeing. How could such a thing be possible?

The scuff of a boot on the dried mud of the space between them drew him from his contemplation of Sheppard's condition, and he turned his head to watch as Ronon, at the woman's side, approached the others, blaster already clear of its holder and pointed his way. He could not help but let out a single chuckle as they came to a halt, face to face.

He tilted his head just slightly to take in the sight of the woman at the runner's side. Petite as he remember from when he had all but carried her from The Abomination's laboratory, her hair spilling over her shoulders, she stood resolute beside the others, though he could sense her reluctance, smell her fear as he felt her eyes on him. It would seem he had made quite the impression already.

Fixing a serious expression on his face to hide the wry amusement at that thought, he gave a slight bow, his eyes fixed on hers.

"Doctor Keller," he said softly, before rising from the bow, and though not taking his eyes from her, continued, "Colonel Sheppard, thank you for coming."

**

Keller shivered and wrapped her arms around herself as his eyes settled on her, as his voice went through her. She was confused at the greeting though. Oh not the words, but the way he had almost respectfully inclined his head to her. It made little sense to her. Unconsciously she took a step back as Todd moved to regard Sheppard.

"Your message said you wanted to meet with us," Sheppard said, "and with Doctor Keller to discuss the data you sent her regarding the Hoffan protein. So talk. What is it that you want?"

Todd nodded, and turned his head back to Keller. She straightened up even though her stomach clenched fiercely to be under his scrutiny again.

"I have been working with various premises concerning the amino acid chain I showed you, and have now reached the limits of my investigations. I would appreciate a second pair of eyes to look over the data, and could think of no one more suited to the task than you, Doctor Keller," he purred.

Keller swallowed hard, then forcing herself to appear calm held out her hand, palm up, in Todd's direction.

"If you give me the data I'll be sure to look it over and get back to you," she said.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Todd said, his voice just the other side of a breathy whisper, and he took a step toward her.

Keller backed up another step, even though she tried to hold her ground. Her breath caught in her chest. She was somewhat comforted by the fact that, beside her, Ronon tightened his grip on his blaster and raised it a little more toward Todd's head.

"What do you mean?" she said, trying not to let her voice squeak.

"Some of the data is… sensitive," he explained, "and simply cannot be removed from the Hive."

"So what," McKay interrupted, and Keller glanced at him to see him glaring at the side of Todd's head, "You expect her to just… go with you? Look at it there?" McKay barely paused before he snapped, "In your dreams, pal!"

"Wraith… have no need to dream, Doctor McKay," Todd said, answering McKay, though he never once took his eyes from her. From seemingly out of nowhere, he held up a clear Wraith data chip.

"What's that?" Keller asked, curious in spite of her growing disquiet.

"I managed to download _some_ of the data to this storage device," Todd answered, "I thought perhaps, if you were to examine it, and then were willing to investigate further…"

Keller's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "You're giving this to me?"

"Why not?" Todd shrugged, "It is of little use to me. As I said, I have reached the limits of my discoveries with this particular data, though… I am certain that there is more to be found. With the right avenue of investigation, of course."

Keller took a deep breath, and once again held out a hand. It trembled slightly and she willed it to stop. He did not move to give her the data chip.

"All right, I'll take a look," she told him. In truth she was eager to examine the data, having reached her own dead end with the single image of the amino acid. The possibilities were exciting, but she had been unable to extrapolate the necessary part of the nucleotide to take the research any further. Still though, just because she was willing to look at this data, did not mean she was willing to do more than that, so she added quickly, "but I'm not making any promises."

"Of course not," Todd purred, "though, it seems to me that perhaps there is… something that I might be able to help you with in return?"

For the first time since beginning to speak to her of the reasons for his message Todd turned his eyes away from her to look at Sheppard.

"Don't you try and use me as a lever, you son-of-a-bitch," Sheppard spat, and as she too turned, she saw Sheppard move closer by a step or two to the Wraith, before he stopped.

"You wound me, Sheppard," Todd said softly, "and if my understanding of the situation is correct, you need all the help you can get, and if I am willing to give that help—"

"Are you?" Sheppard asked, "I mean, without any… exchanges or conditions?"

Todd tilted his head quickly, first one way, and then the other before he said, "I might be. Though, truly, I do not see the harm in pursuing a reciprocal arrangement. We _would_ both benefit, after all."

"What?" Ronon hissed, and Jennifer could tell that he was at the limits of his patience with the Wraith. "How?"

"Ronon," Sheppard said in a warning tone, and then gasped softly. Jennifer started to step toward him as he pressed his forearm across his belly, but he shook his head, and she could see the effort he was making as he drew himself up straight once more.

"No." Ronon turned and walked toward Sheppard to growl at him in a low, almost confidential way. "You explain to me how making it possible for the Wraith to start feeding again is any benefit to the Humans of this Galaxy."

Sheppard opened his mouth to answer, but Todd got there first, his tone one of wry amusement. "Oh I rather think you'd get the better end of any deal we might make: The ability to cure those of your kind stricken with the sickness the Hoffan Protein causes _and_ the ability to restore Colonel Sheppard to his former self…?"

"We don't need your help for that," Ronon snarled, raising his weapon Todd's way once more, "We—"

Todd raised his voice then, as though he tired of Ronon's constant bickering. Keller jumped at first, but the Wraith was turned away from her, his irritation aimed at the big Satedan.

"Then why is it that the retrovirus still runs freely in his body, assaulting his cells, his DNA – changing him."

In spite of how she felt, Keller took a step forward. Whatever happened they couldn't keep playing with each other this way. They needed his help and Todd knew it, and he had asked for their help, so, where _was_ the harm in making at least a show of good faith.

"Look, all right!" she said, and took a deep breath as Todd turned to face her, his expression settling to a neutral one quickly, his head tilted slightly to one side as he regarded her. "_Some_ of the nucleotides in the imposed RNA don't make any sense. If anyone were to help with understanding of Wraith RNA, it stands to reason—"

"It would be Wraith," Todd agreed. "Of course it would be easier to do if you were to come aboard my Hive, but—"

"I've already said, I'll look over your data, see what I can do, but no guarantees, no promises." She held out her hand again for him to give her the clear crystal chip on which the Wraith stored their data, unable, this time, to prevent the slight tremor even she saw in it.

"Very well," Todd said in that almost arrogant tone of voice he had so often used. He reached out to lay the data chip into the palm of Keller's hand. The crystal was smooth and slightly warmed from being held in his hand for so long. He dropped it into her hand deliberately slowly, and inclined his head in another almost respectful bow. As he withdrew his fingers, she started slightly, and almost gasped as the scrape of his fingernails, very light, almost imperceptible, save for the sudden blossoming heat that flushed her entire body, passed along the side of her hand.

She all but dropped the chip to the ground in the trembling that accompanied the heat at the unexpected contact and made her feel unsteady, that same frightened humming that rushed through her, and only tightened as he said softly, "You know how to contact me... if you change your mind."

**

He sat, absolutely motionless except for the rapid flashing of his fingers around the metal piece he turned in them, and over them and around them. If she could have seen his eyes she would have known that they were staring straight ahead, over the top of where he spun the finger-piece over and over, into the middle distance. She did not see. She did not need to see to know that this Wraith she served, the Hive's Second, was deep in thought.

Carefully she set down the comb she had been running through his long hair, bringing the silk of it into her hands to ensure the knots, evidence of his more recent altercation, were gone, and then her nimble fingers flew through its fine white length as she braided it close to his scalp.

Rumours in the Hive's Lower Station, where the worshippers had their quarters, were that his fight had been a vicious and brutal one and the evidence of the wounds, still healing even after he had fed, supported the stories of a poisoned blade. An angry bruising around the line of a healed cut stretched almost the entire width of his broad shoulders. The same greyish-red tint lay around scratches on his wrist and the backs of his long fingered hand, and disturbed the intricately entwined Wraith characters that graced the top of his chest, and the side of his neck.

She would gently apply a healing balm, as he had instructed, before she soothed him to his rest. She sighed. Already feeling the touch of his skin, the resistance of his muscles under her fingers, Isla reached forward to pick up the straight razor with which she would shave away the regrowth from the patterns in his braided hair. It was a task she performed often and with practised ease. She was his body servant, his personal maid, and – when he saw fit to grave her with the greater honour – warmed his bed to relieve such stresses and pressures as bothered him. She belonged to him, and was more than content in that.

Another sigh passed her lips as the thought of change passed through her mind again. A small tremor followed in its wake and the blade in her hand slipped.

**

He felt the sting against the back of his neck, drew in a short, sharp breath and stilled the turning of his finger armour in his hand.

"Stop," he ordered, and though the word was lightly spoken, he had confidence in his absolute control over this Human. "Come here."

He indicated the place to which she should move with a barely perceptible movement of his head. He watched as she moved to stand where he had told her. The blade was still held in her hand. He reached out slowly to take it from her, and inspected the single drop of his blood that still hung on the edge of it.

"Explain," he said in the same, light tone.

"Forgive me, Lord, I—"

"I did not ask you crave my forgiveness, Isla. Explain," he stretched out his hand, the blade extended, and raised her chin on the side of it. She kept her eyes downcast as he did.

"I— it is nothing, Lord, I—"

"And yet suddenly you become clumsy enough to cut me?" he cut her off, "I think not. Explain yourself – I will not ask you again."

In response of him she let out a small, distressed sound, even though only slightly, and he heard a fearful trembling in her voice as she told him, "I breed."

He let out a long, slow hiss that did not match his displeasure at the news and in a fluid movement, came to his feet. He did not remove the blade with which he forced her head up still higher as he came to his full height before her, and turned the razor just enough that the sharp edge rested against her skin.

"You are certain?" he demanded softly, frowning at the thought that she could have disobeyed him. Not that he had forbidden her seek the attention of one of her own kind, but neither had he given her leave. It was her disobedience that angered him – nothing more.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Whose?"

"Taevun," she squeaked.

He regarded her through the veil of his quiet but growing fury. He knew the Human she named; a Handler, a Human with a position of responsibility for others of his kind that served the Wraith. A Human with ideas far above his station, and now it seemed that his personal servant, _his_ servant aided and abetted his transgression.

"But, I— he—" she began, and her further lapse pushed the Hive Second beyond the limit of his considerable patience and self control.

"I did not give you leave to speak!" he roared, pitching both tones low, and following with the lash of his mind.

_{no leave to speak} {to speak} {speak}_

Clearly panicking she backed away from him, heedless of the blade still at her throat, stumbling against the low desk on which the supplies she had been using stood as the pain of the cut reached her, and her blood started to fall. She pressed the palm of one hand to the gash, weeping openly now, and with the other trembling hand tried to pick up the items that had scattered when she fell against the desk.

"Leave it!" he commanded harshly, striding the distance between them to grab her by the hair and pull back her head, exposing her bloodied throat to him. He growled sibilantly deep in the back of his throat, and set down the blade before drawing back his feeding hand, pausing momentarily to catch her eyes with his, before he thrust his flattened hand hard against her chest.

He saw acquiescence, obedience and relief at the contact as the flow of her life began to strengthen him, and felt a momentary confusion before the pieces fell into place in his sharp mind…

_"But I— he—"_

…and he reversed the direction of the surge, giving to her more than he had taken. He let go of her hair, and felt her reach up to grasp his arms for support, in the same desperation as when, on rare occasions, he favoured her, and crying out for him in near rapture to match the moment.

Growling still, he leaned down to breathe deeply of her responses, and at the same time, reached for the straight blade and pressed the handle of it into her palm, closing her fingers around its hardness.

On the edge of the breath, he hissed, "Bring me his heart."

_{heart} {heart} {heart} {heart} {heart}_

**

"I thought you would like to know," Todd said. He strode into the laboratory where they were holding The Abomination as the drones were dragging the pitiful thing that had once been so feared and hated in the Pegasus galaxy toward the bio-testing couch. "I have investigated your supposed… key. There is nothing there. No one—"

"You are lying."

That The Abomination had answered at all surprised Todd. His voice, barely a broken and sibilant whisper, raised in challenge as it was, surprised Todd even more. As Todd approached him, to see to the fastening of the restraints, he cocked his head in query.

"If you had been anywhere near the planet," the whisper continued, forced and sounding painful, "you would, in no way, casually suggest—"

Todd cut him off, leaning down and clamping a hand around his throat.

"Suppose you tell me. Save me the trouble," he growled, all effort to dissemble gone in a sudden rising irritation. "What is so important about this place; its people? How did you reach your solution?"

"What… makes you believe… there _is_ a solution?" The Abomination gasped.

"You do. Your hybrids," Todd said, his anger getting the better of him, making him spit the words in accusation at The Abomination. "Each of them that we captured shows the Hoffan Protein in their system, in their blood, and yes, in the Human woman. The key to relieving her symptoms was in the amino acid chains and nucleotides in her blood, but it was no cure! It did not neutralise the poison in her system."

A rasping chuckle came from the pitiful figure on the bio-testing couch.

"Oh, which unfortunate rival did you eliminate in your test of her? How many have died in your futile attempt to give your people respite from my—?"

"What will I find when I travel to your miserable testing ground!" Todd demanded. At the same time he flipped a switch on the side of the console, sending massive amounts of the Hive's neuro-chemically generated energy coursing through The Abomination's body.

The pain of it cut off the miserable creature's words and came streaming, perceptible, dangerously so, through the mental link with which The Abomination had connected, catching the unguarded drones off guard, to send them lurching away in their shared agony.

Todd quickly raised his own mental defences, but not before the fiery lick of it had touched his own mind, and gasping softly with the effort of holding it back, he deactivated the tortuous flow of energy.

"Oh, very clever," he purred in amusement at the irony of it once he had caught his breath. "I can see your willingness to cooperate has not improved. Let us see if I cannot remind you to take greater care as to your needs."

Todd gestured to one of the drone guards at the door and the masked Wraith led forth a slight, though pleasant enough looking member of the Hive's worshipper community.

The woman – well, barely grown a woman by Human standards, Todd noticed – was clearly terrified, filled with dread at being brought before this _thing._ She dragged her feet.

"Come, girl," Todd snapped and at his command she hurried to stand at his side, eyes downcast as he would expect from one of the Elder's – from any Hive's – Purebreds. He reached out and, grasping her chin, raised her face and turned her toward The Abomination. "Pleasing enough, don't you think?"

"If you have a point—" The Abomination began.

Letting go of the girl, Todd began to circle around her, speaking as he moved.

"It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps the reason for your refusal to feed is that you fear reprisals for the troubles your past actions have caused us. That someone might," he paused to gesture around at the remains of the last sub-commander that had been left as a reminder of the deaths his refusal was causing, "slip you a poisoned apple, as it were."

Todd saw The Abomination's eyes narrow and assumed he was correct in his assessment. Without a warning to the unfortunate worshipper he turned on her, thrusting forward with his feeding hand and, catching her completely unawares, snarled in deep satisfaction as he fed.

**

Michael sighed.

"You are wasting your time," he rasped. "It has nothing to do with fear… of reprisal and everything to do… with the… rejection of your weakness!"

He watched dispassionately as the worshipper's struggles against The Scientist's restraining hold began to falter, and then ceased altogether as she threw back her head in rapture when the Wraith reversed the feeding process. Then, Michael looked away.

"Weakness," the Scientist rumbled and broke off the process. Michael could sense the change in the feeling of the nearby neural presences, and slowly turned his head back to face the Wraith. "I think not."

"When your existence depends on a single food source, that is so… vulnerable, so… open to disease and manipulation," Michael fixed the Scientist with as steady a gaze as he could, "How can you not consider it weakness? You are no fool – you must have seen the truth… as a commander you cannot… fail to have seen."

**

Keller paused, and pulled away from staring at the computer screen, to look into the microscope, where she had extrapolated a sample of the amino acid chain that Todd's original data had suggested as the key to the curing or immunising against the effects of infection with the Hoffan Protein. After several moments she pulled away from the microscope to close her eyes and squeeze the bridge of her nose. She had been staring back and forth between the sample and the computer model for the better part of the afternoon and long into the night, mapping each aspect of the genome.

The scuff of a footfall made her open her eyes and look in the direction of the sound. She was surprised to see Zelenka, his hair a dishevelled shock on top of his head, somehow drawing attention to the worried, slightly startled expression on his face.

"Doctor Zelenka," she greeted him, regarding him with a concerned frown, "Is something wrong?"

"Doctor Keller, you're wanted in the Control Room, immediately," he answered her.

She started to get up quickly, meaning to reach for a med kit and follow him, assuming that someone was hurt. "What is it? What happened?" she asked.

"Oh, no, no, no," Zelenka stuttered, "it is nothing like that. There is… a message for you."

"For me?" Keller frowned, confused at the sudden feeling of butterflies she got in her belly. "A message?"

"Well,, a subspace video transmission actually but—"

"Why didn't you radio me," she reached up to her ear. It was second nature now to check for the presence of the radio headset. It remained in place just as it should.

"I didn't think you'd want this broadcast on an open channel," Zelenka told her, somewhat archly. "Wouldn't want to draw attention to it. Please, we're keeping him waiting."

"Him?" she asked, the flittering of winged creatures inside her becoming the beginnings of a huge knot.

"Please, Doctor Keller," Zelenka said, the worry on his face increasing as he looked around, suddenly, as if he expected the room to suddenly fill with something dangerous; that what he was saying was some great secret. "You'll see when we get there,"

Still frowning, and fighting back the feeling she was getting, Keller grabbed the tablet on which she had downloaded some of the data from her findings that she had meant to take with her to her quarters when she had stopped for the night, and followed him from the lab. It wasn't much, a single chromosome that appeared degraded in the sample of amino acids that she had synthesised, and in the appended information of the image that Todd had sent her. The next step of course was two-fold: to analyse that particular chromosome in a sample taken from someone who was infected with the Hoffan drug, and that of the corresponding amino acid chain of the Wraith.

She sighed. She had no idea how she might obtain that piece of information – at least not until she set eyes on the screen in the surprisingly empty Control Room.

"We… sent everyone away," Banks told her, and she realised she must have looked terribly confused.

Keller peered at the image of the Wraith, Todd, that dominated the screen – dominated the Control Room with its electronic presence.

"Can he see us?" Keller asked, the knot of butterflies making a triumphant return to her belly, bringing nausea with them as a gift.

Banks shook her head. "We froze the transmission until you got here, but he was insistent on seeing you right away. Said it was a matter of the 'gravest importance.'

Keller snorted a little, both in defiance of the news, and of the squirrelly feeling inside of her.

"Doctor?" Banks asked.

"I don't suppose there's any way—"

"He said he would wait," Zelenka told her. "And we are having a hard enough time keeping the room clear as it is."

Taking a deep breath, Keller nodded and drew herself up as tall as she could in front of the screen.

"All right," she said. "Put him on."

"_Ah, Doctor Keller_," he said almost as soon as the image, once frozen on the screen, came to life. "_I trust your people impressed upon you the urgency with which I wish to speak with you. I would not have otherwise interrupted your work_."

Todd nodded toward the tablet she held in her hand, and almost defensively, Keller raised the screen of it to rest against her chest.

"I'm listening," she said, trying not to allow her emotions to show in her voice.

"_It recently came to my attention that certain RNA sequences among some of those infected with the Hoffan protein, when exposed to open nucleotides, begin to reassert themselves in apparently random places in the DNA of the victims_."

He spoke softly, earnestly, fixing her with a serious and concerned expression, and she leaned toward the screen a little to catch his words. As she listened, a frown started to deepen on her face.

"That's not possible," she told him, and she pulled the tablet away from her chest to look down at a specific set of results. At once she saw what he was talking about. A cluster of the Hoffan protein's RNA appeared to be annealed with the primary DNA, and the spacing of the RNA did appear to be random.

She looked up at Todd, and saw that he was patiently waiting for her to review her data. As she met his eyes, the butterflies began again, only this time, she thought they must have been wearing hobnail boots. What if this discovery were somehow pivotal? What if they really could solve this?

"_Doctor_?" he prompted after a while.

"I'll agree with you that the adhesion seems as though it has no pattern, there _have_ to be specific conditions under which the RNA will splice itself into the nucleotides of the host during self replication," she argued. "What we need to do is examine the nods and figure out what those conditions are. Doing that—"

"_I knew I was correct in bringing this to your attention. I believe that if anyone could help to unravel the truth in this, it would be you. You have, after all, done so much already._"

Keller shivered a little, and tried to focus her attention on the tablet as she said, "Empty praise. I've done very little, and mostly been unsuccessful at _that_."

"_Not so, Doctor Keller_," Todd purred. "_Your reputation precedes you. Your… humanitarian efforts on the Jetarin home world for example; they speak very highly of you and it is not without notice_."

Keller couldn't help blushing, very flattered that a scientist of his calibre would say so. She couldn't let it blind her to anything she might miss in the data she already had, but… looking at it a second time she knew they might be approaching something that might actually be viable as a counter agent to the Hoffan protein. She couldn't help but wonder how much more effective they might have been if they pooled resources – worked together.

"What I need is—"

"_Yes_?"

The tone in his voice made her look up at him again, to be captured by his golden eyes that seemed to see right through her.

"It's nothing," she decided in a moment that she was insane – to even consider the notion of working together… even talking together was the most dangerously foolish thing she could think of…

"_No, please, Doctor Keller_," Todd's voice was quiet, filled with just the edge of enquiry. "_If there is something you need – something that I can… provide – you have only to ask for it, and I—_"

"To really compare; to understand the annealement completely it occurs to me that I need a sample of DNA from a Wraith with exposure to the Hoffan protein, but—"

"_Very well_," he told her, nodding his head, "_I will see what I can do_."

"But you can't do that!" she told him, her voice nervously indignant. "The Wraith will die, he—"

"_Compassion_?"

"Basic Human rights," she said, not forgetting to whom she was speaking but having no other way to express it.

"_Hardly, Doctor Keller. We are Wraith_."

"Common decency then," she amended.

"_It is hardly an assault to common decency should I use the body and blood of one of my own kind that has already fallen to… carelessness in his attention to discovery_," Todd said. "_In fact, not to do so and to let such a death go to waste when it could further the advancement of a cure…?_"

"You have a point," Keller admitted, though she was still uncomfortable with the idea. "But still, I'm not…entirely comfortable with the idea."

"_I understand_," he told her, bowing his head just slightly. "_Perhaps… I have a proposal then_."

"Go on," she said, before she could change her mind.

"_An exchange of data. If we cannot yet work together, then perhaps we can… support each other's investigations by… ratifying the research, augmenting it with our own and allowing it to advance our own theories in return_."

Keller thought about that for a moment, and in all honesty did not take all that long to decide. She realised, blushing against that it was this she had hoped for since the beginning of the video conference, and then nodded, handing her tablet to Radek.

"Send him the data that's on this tablet," she instructed. "And prepare a—"

"Non-networked, firewalled computer," Zelenka finished for her, "Yes, I know the procedure."

She nodded her apology to Zelenka and then turned her attention back to Todd, who gave another little bow of his head, and then quite obviously keyed a computer terminal in front of him.

"_I trust my further data will be of as much use to you as will yours in my research_," Todd said, his voice almost a hum across the video transmission. "_In the meantime, I will see what I can do about securing you that sample_."

"I have the file," Zelenka told them both.

"_As do I_," Todd purred, and then added, "_Rest well, Doctor Keller_."

**

Todd wasted no time in analysing the data that the Human doctor had sent to him, hurrying from the little used communications terminal he had commandeered and encrypted for his own personal use, back to his laboratory so that he could compare their findings.

He scrolled through the data at an unnatural speed, his golden eyes flashing across the lines of Wraith text that appeared to drip down over the screen, a fall of disturbing information. His mind, already racing over the many possibilities, beginning to wonder how he might secure the Wraith sample that Keller had said she required without further exposing his Alicia to the trauma of feeding.

The flaring of activity toward the proto-neural centres deep within him pushed an almost involuntary burst along the synaptic pathways of his brain, evoking an almost immediate response to reach out with his mind. Growling, he pushed it aside, and regained control.

Damn the Queen for holding to such a futile desire. She should just take her mate and be done with it – the Hive Commander was more than ready to comply, and if not that one, then certainly the Hive Second would obey. He did not need this distraction. He had work to attend to. Work that would prove to be the salvation of his people from this insidious, creeping death that The Abomination would thrust upon them, and the key – he was certain – lay within the discoveries he had made in the blood of the 'Lantean Captain with whom his life had become… dangerously intertwined.

Hot on the heels of such thoughts, Todd retrieved the analysis files of the blood samples he had taken from Vega during his treatment of her infection, and just following her cure, beginning to make a detailed comparison with the numerous samples that Keller had sent as part of her research. Time and again, he saw the same apparently random pattern of the placement of the virus chromosomes within the human host. He had to admit that Keller was right. DNA by its very nature was not random, but programmed to respond in a specific way. Therefore they must, as a matter of urgency, examine the points at which the Hoffan protein annealed with the Human proteins and amino acids at a more detailed, microcellular level. He had already begun to do so with Vega's DNA – though for different reasons than in respect of the Hoffan Protein….

_A thought occurred to him. He had no notion of whence it came, or why in that moment he should begin to wonder on it, but it was a thought that profoundly disturbed him. _

… yet he had not been able to find the time to make the genetic comparisons that he had wanted to, with that of Wraith DNA.

Weary, after hours of staring at scrolling data and mapped genomes he was about to close down the computers and retreat to the relative peace of his personal quarters when something struck him – hard – the sight of two almost identical genome maps, one from a survivor of the Hoffan plague and one from an unfortunate victim. He saw in the one the self-same indicator of an existing active radical as he had seen in Vega's DNA, one that was disturbingly familiar to him, and he was convinced now, more than ever, that it not only had something to do with the solution to the Hoffan situation, but also to something vastly more important to the survival of the Wraith.

"Well now, Doctor Keller… I wonder…" he purred into the otherwise silent laboratory, and shrugging off his coat to toss it carelessly to the cot at the side of the room, began to take a blood sample of his own.

**

Sheppard leaned against the conference table and squeezed the bridge of his nose. The headache that had begun a while ago was returning with a vengeance, and all of the argument too and fro was not helping in the slightest.

"For crying out loud, Jennifer," he snapped, "I just don't see your problem. It's Todd, and as far as I can see he's been pretty straight with us from the get-go."

He pulled his pale and shaking hand away from his face, thrusting it under the conference table before Woolsey and Varnerin could give him any more pointed looks and make any further comments about his fitness for duty.

"It isn't that," Keller said, looking still more uncomfortable.

"Then please, explain it to me," Sheppard breathed out a heavy sigh and sat back in his seat, looking in annoyance at Keller. "Because from where I sit, we've worked with him before on several occasions and with very few exceptions, the science parts have been just fine. He's offering to share research, resources, he's already shared data which you yourself have said is pretty darned useful – and it's not as if you'd be going by yourself!"

"I take it from your argument, Colonel," Woolsey said lightly, "that you believe our best interests would be served by agreeing to his request and sending personnel aboard Todd's Hive to conduct this research?"

"What gave you that impression, Sherlock?" Sheppard answered sarcastically.

"No," Ronon rumbled, drawing all eyes, including Sheppard's, his way.

"What do you mean, _no_?" Sheppard said.

"I mean – no! We shouldn't go. We have the research, Jennifer can do this by herself, we don't need Todd, we don't need _any_ damn Wraith," Ronon said, once again making his position pretty clear.

"Ronon…" Sheppard started, but McKay interrupted.

"I hate to say it, Sheppard, but I'm with the big guy on this one," McKay said. "At least… kinda. Bring him to Atlantis if you must, if we _have_ to work with him, but… going to his Hive?"

"It seems to me, gentlemen," Varnerin said, "that the decision we are trying to make here is further complicated by the fact that it is, in actuality, two questions. Firstly, do we need to accept the Wraith Scientist's – this _Todd's_ involvement in the research, and then secondly, if that is the case, should we do so on his territory, as it were."

Ronon folded his arms. "Well I say the answer's no – to both questions."

"Doctor Keller?" Varnerin prompted.

Sheppard watched as Keller took a deep breath. He watched the different emotions flashing over her face and tried to understand them. The fear he got – that he could understand, and perhaps the disappointment too, but there were several other things he saw that he could not reconcile, especially in the face of the first: a certain curiosity and admiration, but then again, the Wraith _was_ a brilliant scientist. They'd seen that in his work with McKay.

"In respect of the Hoffan virus," Keller started slowly, "I'm not saying I couldn't ever solve the problem, especially not with the information I have now, and the knowledge of where to possibly start looking, but could I do so quickly? No. If we worked with Todd on this the potential for saving lives is… huge. I can't deny that."

"But?" Woolsey asked.

"But," Keller sighed, "I'm just not comfortable putting myself in a situation where I'd be cut off from help, from our own people as I would be aboard a Wraith Hive."

"You wouldn't be cut off," Sheppard said with controlled patience, "You know the deal, McKay'd be with you, I'd be with you, and—"

"Due respect, Colonel," Keller said, "You're hardly in a position to single handed fight off the entire population of a Wraith Hive ship if Todd changes his mind and decides he didn't want us there any more."

"But he wouldn't!" Sheppard couldn't stand it any more. He got up from his seat and began pacing the conference room. "Todd might be a self serving son-of-a-bitch, he might be a lot of things, but he _does_ have a strong sense of honour."

"Honour?" Ronon got to his feet too, "You call bringing an entire Wraith fleet to what was supposed to be a private meeting just to flush out Michael honourable?"

"That wasn't Todd – that was the… Queen he'd gotten himself involved with." Sheppard pointed out. "And need I remind you who it was called her off?"

"And what if this Queen decides to put in another appearance?" Ronon asked, raising his voice, "Decides she doesn't like one of her own… playing with his food!"

"Hardly playing, besi—" Sheppard tried to say more, but Keller spoke again.

"There's nothing to suggest that this Queen of his knows anything about this, but that's beside the point," she said. "The point is that, no matter how useful his help would be on the research and in helping to reverse the effects of the retrovirus on Sheppard and Lorne, aboard his ship, we'd be vulnerable, and I'm not comfortable with that."

Woolsey shrugged and said, "Then we bring him to Atlantis."

Sheppard swung round to face Woolsey. "He's already said that's a no go. He won't come here again, not after the way we treated him the last time he was here."

"I thought he was treated with great courtesy," Woolsey countered.

"As a prisoner, maybe," Sheppard said sarcastically, "but as he rightly pointed out, that's not at all the nature of this agreement."

"So basically it's his way or the highway!" McKay snapped. "That just proves he's up to something."

"It proves he's pissed at being put in chains when all he's trying to do is help!" Sheppard all but shouted and ran his fingers through his hair, not sure why he was getting so worked up, especially as a large part of him agreed with what McKay was saying.

"He's trying to feather his own nest is wha—!" Ronon started. He also raised his voice and turning angrily toward Sheppard as the discussion all but descended into a brawl.

"Gentlemen!"

Varnerin's crow call cut the room to silent glowering between the three men and the all but cowering doctor.

"I rather think fighting between ourselves is more than a little counter-productive when the final decision must, in fact, lie with Doctor Keller. She is the one that must work most closely with the Wraith after all," the psychologist said.

Sheppard turned slowly to face Keller, who was at that moment looking down at her hands.

"I just don't feel comfortable with it, John," she said apologetically. "I'm sorry."

**

As he turned to pick up a new slide from the case on the other side of the bench, Todd noticed the light blinking on his tablet that indicated he had an incoming transmission from his Hive awaiting his attention.

Securing the research for the moment, and moving to lock the door to his laboratory, he moved to the computer to access the encrypted communications array, carefully opening a channel to access the incoming subspace transmission. Before too long, the serious, somewhat exasperated expression on his Hive Second's face became visible to him.

"Yes?" he snapped.

"_The Young Queen and her Guardian, Commander_," his Second told him the reason for the call, and Todd could guess what the rest of the message would be about. Still he decided he would ask.

"What about them?" he said.

"_They have been taken aboard the Hive and are now installed in their quarters_."

"And?" Todd growled. His second was a loyal and trusted member of his crew with a sharp mind and excellent tactical skills, however, he did have the annoying habit of relaying only part of the required information at any one time, and without extensive questioning one was unlikely to come to the point of his communication. He did not have the time.

"_She has been… asking for you, Commander_," his Second said at last.

"I see," he rumbled, sighing softly. No doubt that was her guardian's influence, though at least it was something that the miserable Wraith sub-commander was attempting to guide her in the appropriate protocol aboard a Hive. "And what did you tell her?"

"_As you instructed, Commander_," his Second answered with a slight frown, "_that you were away on important Hive business and would return in due course_."

"Then why have you bothered me with this?" Todd demanded, becoming more irritated at the disturbance to his work, and his Second's continued obstinacy. For what imagined ill was his trusted underling attempting to rebuke him?

"_She… is displaying signs_," his Second said, "_and the crew_—"

"Already?" Todd frowned. He had not anticipated it would be so soon. In fact, it was a distinct inconvenience that it was.

"_Yes, Commander. I believe it would be prudent for you to schedule your return to the Hive with all due expedition_."

"Indeed," Todd growled, and could not help but chuckle at the uncomfortable expression on his Second's face. "Do what you can to forestall her enquiries. I will be with you when I can."

He cut the transmission before his Second could argue with him and attempt to remind him of the duties of a Hive Commander in such a situation. Todd had other priorities. However, if he were to ensure his control over the young queen he would, as his Second had suggested, have to return to his Hive - and soon.

Looking back at his research, he growled in annoyance, now was not the time to have to abandon his lines of investigation.

**

Keller rolled her head first one way, and then the other. She knew she should have been in bed hours ago. Her body was telling her so in no uncertain terms, but the information, the research was compelling. Trying to analyse and examine in the minutest detail the amino acid chains and chromosomes of both survivors and victims, and the virus itself, trying to find a commonality, trying to find the cause of the apparent random scattering of the nucleotides.

Finally her curiosity came to be too great and she opened up many of the other files that Todd had sent to her when he contacted her privately and began comparing his work with her own. Some of the leaps he had made in his theoretical research were astounding, as if his mind were thinking in four dimensions – which she supposed, for such a long lived species as the Wraith, was not beyond the realms of possibility. Humans tended to think along linear strands, and only one at a time. Todd's research suggested an agile mind that reached for possibilities in an almost spiralling pattern, and as a consequence his data encompassed much that she could have overlooked or simply dismissed as irrelevant when it clearly wasn't.

Her stomach constricted again as the thoughts finally fell into place within her, and key among them, as much as she hated it, as much as she was terrified of what could happen if anything went wrong, she knew that she needed him. That if there were to be any quick solution to the problem, and any chance at all of curing Sheppard and Lorne, then his scientific prowess could very well be the difference between success and failure.

Before she could change her mind, she reached up to her ear to key her mic.

"Colonel Sheppard, this is Doctor Keller, respond please," she said tremulously.

"_Go ahead, Jennifer,_" Sheppard came back, sounding as though he were in pain.

"Just tell me that you and Rodney are going to take care of me up there," she asked softly.

"_It's Todd. You'll be fine,_" he told her.

"Promise me," she said again, shaking her head, though she knew he wouldn't see that.

"_You have my word,_" he said.

"Then we have a go," she said, swallowing hard. "Contact Todd and tell him we'll be joining him aboard his Hive."

**

"Leave us."

Todd did not wait for the worshipper to withdraw before approaching The Abomination. He was supremely confident that she would not disobey. So much so that he picked up the syringe containing the serum almost before she was out of reach.

"So, Scientist," The Abomination spat, turning his narrowed golden eyes Todd's way, "you have come to torment me still further. Inject me with your retrovirus to see how much closer to Wraith you can drag my DNA."

"Mmm, perhaps not," Todd said lightly, setting down the syringe again onto the silver instrument tray within The Abomination's line of sight.

"But that is what your Queen expects," The Abomination said, forcing the words from his lips in as sarcastic a tone as Todd had ever heard. "How would you _dare_ to disobey?"

"You were hers – she was _your_ Queen before ever she was mine," Todd answered.

"I was never hers," The Abomination hissed, "nor _will_ ever be."

With deadly speed and accuracy, Todd unsheathed the blade at his back, turned it in his hand and plunged it home, clean through The Abomination's shoulder to embed itself, sparking slightly with bio-energy, into the treatment bed on which the prisoner lay.

The Abomination cried out in renewed agony, gripping the sides of the bed with his one good hand and forcing the other to stillness. Todd pulled on the blade enough to be able to twist it, drawing another dreadful cry from The Abomination.

"I should kill you for such blasphemy!" Todd snarled.

The edge of the cry turned to a strange, rasping laughter, tainted with the breath of madness that threatened all who had suffered such continued torture as this one had so far withstood.

"If you believed that," he accused as his laughter faded to harsh breaths, "I would already be long dead."

Todd could not deny the truth of the words, but would not confess. Rather he turned to the reason for his visit to the laboratory.

"I am curious," he said. He did not want to ask too much, in case this sharp minded scientist, provided of course the torture had not truly destroyed what was left of his intelligence, made the connections and worked out that there was more to his investigations than simply to find a cure to the problem of Wraith feeding on Humans infected with the Hoffan protein. With a well worded question, however, it might lead the way forward and allow him to finally begin to understand what he was seeing in the several samples he was mapping. "Your hybrids – their creation – what DNA did you splice upon the retrovirus? Some Wraith? Your own? What?"

The Abomination looked on him, contempt clear in his eyes. "What makes you think," he said, his voice dripping with the liquid essence of that expression, "that I used anything so crude as a splice?"

**

Oh, it had begun with the intention to use a genetic splice, though Michael would no more confess that than he would confess using his own DNA to provide the hybridising cell. However, he had very quickly found the mutative strand within the iratus queen's DNA that had subsumed the single stranded retrovirus, and merged it with both its own, and the donor strand of DNA he had taken from himself. After that it had just been a matter of controlling the mutation, and control it he had. It had not been easy, and several of those to whom he gave the treatment had suffered such severe abreaction to the process, that there had been nothing he could do to prevent their deaths, which had been grossly inconvenient, as it seemed to be those in whom the reaction to infection with the Hoffan protein had been most dangerous and which had taken a good deal of his resources to treat. Further along in the process, he had begun to allow the Hoffan protein to be a 'litmus test' as to an individual's candidacy for hybridisation. He did not have the resources, or the time to waste on those who would not be useful to his cause.

"Something more complex then," the Scientist leaned closer. "Interesting… and the DNA?"

Michael closed his eyes. He had no intention of telling this one anything, especially as he believed that the Scientist already knew the answer.

He braced himself for another stab of physical agony from whatever instrument of torture this scientist – Queen's pawn – would decide to try and use to loosen his tongue. After several minutes, nothing came but the soft tones of the other's voice.

"Tell me something… Michael…"

He could not have prepared himself for the wash of emotional pain that came with hearing that name on this one's lips. He felt the shock of it bubbling inside of him, tight against his chest as though trying to escape...

"…all those centuries ago… when you took the Humans of this galaxy to experiment on… Did you use your own DNA then as well?"

The bubbling inside of him pushed and pushed until it became a gurgling chuckle that he could no longer hold inside. It pushed aside even the pain of the knife twisting in his shoulder as the other, irritated by his apparent mirth, sought to punish him for it.

"When you began the line of manipulations that resulted in your little… natural hybrid playing…" The Scientist purred, "…your… Teyla…"

Anger joined the pain, intensified triple fold by the mention of her name, and still chuckling, and though restrained, he sought to lash out. He would kill this poor excuse for Wraith.

"It matters not," The Scientist turned and indifference streaming off him in waves, he began to walk toward the door once more. As The Scientist reached the far terminal he pressed a button, in passing, and the restraints on the bio-genetic bed sprang open, leaving Michael pinned only by the knife through his shoulder. He reached for it at once, to try and pull it free; free himself and plunge it deep into the other's back.

His hand closed around the hilt and he pulled with all of his remaining strength, feeling the barbs of it beginning to tear through his flesh and sinews… the pain still nothing against the agony of the bubbling, insane laughter that possessed him.

The Scientist paused by the door, though he did not look back. He merely spoke softly one more time, damning Michael with his words.

"…idle curiosity… for the lost."

The laughter broke, tightened around him stealing his breath, contracting, becoming less as the pain became greater, until his breath was coming in short, hiccupping bursts; all his strength flown, he curled onto his side, the knife in his shoulder forgotten, save for the added pain with each wracking sob that shook his body as he burned with her loss.

**

He headed toward the private quarters adjacent to his laboratory, weary, though deep in thought, burying himself in every unsolved strand of the Hoffan protein situation – anything to fight the rising answer to the call of instinct within him as the Queen rapidly approached her zenith.

The entire Hive could feel it and all were tense, edgy – the fertile commanders and their subs virtually at each others' throats, and the unfortunate worshippers, on whom they sought to relieve themselves, barely surviving the onslaught of the aftermath of the vicious passions of Wraith.

At that time the Hive was a dangerous place to be.

"And soon I must leave," he purred aloud to none but himself and the lonely corridor. He had little choice. He knew he would force no answers from The Abomination as to the truth of the outer planet to which the coordinates he had given him led. If he were to discover anything of why that place was so important to The Abomination and his work, then he would have to travel there, and while he was certain that the Queen would happily divert her Hive to do so, should he explain his reasons for wishing to go, _he_ would prefer to make the discovery himself .

Besides which, now that his second had informed him that the young queen was adequately installed in her place aboard his own Hive, he must, of necessity, attend to such matters as concerned that one… that one and his own… relationship to her.

Todd sighed, at least with her being so young he had the possibility to mould her as he saw fit, and not to cast himself in the subservient male role that instinct – which he despised – dictated for those of his kind. If he must play Commander to any Queen, he would have it be one of his own design, and this one would do as well as any.

And that left but one consideration. Alicia Vega.

To request the company of a concubine on a mission such as he would present the reason for his absence was not unheard of, however, with the Hive Commander reacting to the Queen's approaching zenith and his suspicions already roused it would draw further attention to them, something that Todd did not wish to do.

In spite of this, he was loathe to leave her by herself aboard a Hive as volatile as this, and doubted she would even survive being placed with the Worshippers temporarily during his absence. The Hive Commander had already once decided to try and assert his authority over what he obviously saw as the errant Human, as well as to use her to make a covert attack against _him._ He growled softly as he reached the door to the laboratory and started inside. _That_ he could not allow.

"Todd," Vega turned to face him as soon as he stepped through the door, the worry etched clearly on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" he frowned in confusion, "Did the message say there was anything wrong?"

"No, I—" she stopped and looked at him as he approached her. She held her ground, almost leaning in to the touch of his hand as he brushed the back of his fingers delicately down the side of her face.

"Ah, my little Alicia," he purred. "You think that simply because I send for you there is something wrong?"

"Then what is it?" she said, her voice squeaking a little at the beginning of her question.

"A small matter," he said casually, turning to gesture toward the workbench. "I wanted to compare a new blood sample with the one I took from you just after your cure."

It wasn't quite the truth, but neither was it entirely a lie. He walked toward the bench and began to prepare a small needle and vial, certain she would agree.

"So there _is_ something wrong?" she asked suddenly fearful and coming to his side.

"No, no…" he soothed, drawing her to sit on the nearby stool, and for a moment running his hand over her hair. "I just wish to see how the annealment has settled in your blood. As I said, it is but a small matter."

"All right," she said, and he could feel her eyes on him as he carefully drew the blood from her to place into stasis along with the other.

**

She could not take her eyes off his fingers as he worked to take her blood. The precise way he held the syringe, the careful, measured motion. She supposed it came from his prowess as a scientist, but, even so…

_With the other she crested his shoulder, slowly sliding the softness of her soapy skin over his chest as far as she could reach, drawing from him another rumbling growl, until he trapped her hand beneath his, against the hammering of his heart. Todd turned his head beneath the press of her own and raised her wrist to meet the light nip of his teeth against the softness of her flesh._

_She gasped and then moaned as he repeated the gesture. She found herself almost falling into only the awareness of the heat of it, the slight sharpness that burned the length of her, and in sudden fear of where it might lead, she pulled away._

_"What is it that you need me to do?" she whispered, hiding behind the practicality of their situation, but he was not to be distracted. He let go of her hand and reached up to run his fingers into her hair, drawing her down to meet his waiting kiss._

_He possessed her entirely with the intensity of it. His lips parted hers and the warm taste of him exploded inside of her as his tongue quested against hers, seeking to know her, to map the delicacies of her mouth, his teeth a counterpoint of sharpness against her lips, leaving them sensitive and tingling as he pulled away, leaving her aching for him, and trembling with the uncertainty of her desire._

…she felt him still, almost suddenly, and realised that she had pulled against the touch of his hand on her wrist that steadied her arm while he took the sample, and looking up she found him watching her, almost intently.

"Did I cause you discomfort?" he asked softly, as he withdrew the needle, and gave her a small square of a gauzelike cloth to hold against the wound for a moment.

"No, I… I was," she couldn't help but blush, before she finished, "thinking."

**

The Hive Second rarely paced, in fact he had to be highly agitated to do more than merely shift from one of his feet to the other, and yet the Hive reeked of Zenith; of a queen who sought to artificially delay the inevitable necessity that this one was approaching, and he, in turn, felt the primal answering of it in his blood.

He burned.

The Commander should have acted by now, against her orders if necessary. Her condition was dangerous – for the Hive, for its commanders, for—

A light footfall caught his notice, but it was not that which caught his attention and brought him to a halt. One among the worshippers was the cause. Her difference was as clear to him as if she wore a sign, but… it was not possible – to find one such out here – and he was profoundly confused. Confused and concerned, as the implications of it began to run through his mind like lines of Wraith text over a screen.

She was the Queen's handmaiden and The Scientist's concubine, though the latter in name and appearances only, he knew – for while they may have tricked the Queen, distracted as she was by her own machinations, it had been obvious to him at once that no such connection existed between them. He had wondered at the time why The Scientist had committed such a blatantly disloyal act against the Queen. Now it all made a perfect, if somewhat surprising sense.

Like the Wraith of the Hive, she too was being affected by the Queen's condition. He could sense it, feel it, smell it on her like a beacon. It did not help in his desire to pace, though he held his place, his eyes fixed like brands on the figure of the petite Human woman.

As she ventured closer to the Queen's chamber, the other handmaiden, one of the Purebred, exited and reached out a hand to halt the girl. There was little kindness on her face, and the Hive Second frowned, recognising the Hive Commander's encouragement in her mocking tones as she spoke.

"Our Queen desires your company," the worshipper said. "Be sure you attend her well – while you can."

On the last three words, the Hive Second turned, and hurried away, if there was one thing clear in his mind it was that he could not allow the Hive Commander to make a mistake he might later regret. When the time came, it would be the Hive Second that would reward such an action.

**

"This is the second time I return to my private laboratory and find you here, rifling among my things," Todd growled in irritation at the Hive Commander's back.

The Hive Commander did not turn, he merely picked up yet another sample and rumbled, "And why should I not? This is _my_ Hive after all."

"That does not give you license to interfere among areas clearly under the auspices of science!" Todd raised his voice, stepping fully into the laboratory. His blood was boiling, particularly as he saw the Hive Commander had called up his research data concerning Vega.

At his raised voice the Hive Commander turned, murder clearly written in his narrowed yellow eyes.

"What I choose to _investigate_ aboard this Hive is my prerogative entirely!" he roared, and as he did, tossed a tablet at Todd's feet, a blinking light in the bottom corner of the tablet clearly visible.

"I've told you before," Todd kicked the tablet aside rather than retrieve it. He knew what the Hive Commander was insinuating. "As a Hive Commander in my own right it is essential I maintain contact with my own Hive!"

"On an encrypted channel?" the other accused.

"To prevent interception by rival Hives," Todd explained, speaking as though to a child. "Your paranoia speaks of insecurity, _Hive Commander_."

"I have held this Hive for Millennia," the Hive Commander snarled, "and I will continue to do so long after _you_ are gone from it!"

"We'll see which of us—" Todd did not get further with his sentence before the Hive Commander came at him, throwing the sample he was holding ahead of him, to bounce harmlessly off Todd's shoulder.

Less harmless was the blade in his off hand that was leading his attack just in front of the Hive Commander's feeding hand. It was a well practised gambit among Wraith, and Todd was not distracted by it in the slightest. Far too many lesser Wraith, and almost always Human victims, fell to its dual threat. They reacted to the knife and ignored the danger of being fed upon.

Not so Todd.

Ignoring the knife, he delivered a crushing blow to the wrist of the outstretched feeding hand. The Commander responded by turning the knife to lash out at the attacking fist, slicing across Todd's own hand, bouncing off the finger guard to slip in his grasp.

Todd spun in toward the Commander then, driving home a punch that sent him reeling away, moving to be ready for the counter attack. It never came.

"Commander," The Hive Second's soft voice spread like a balm over the tense atmosphere of the laboratory. "We are approaching the last known position of one of our subordinate Hives."

"And?" The Hive Commander snapped.

"And under the circumstance I believe that you would wish to see the bridge telemetry," the Hive Second purred.

Todd watched as the Hive Commander straightened again to his full height and sheathed the knife as though nothing that had come before meant anything to him. The Hive Commander began to stride toward the door, without a further word to his second, and past him, to return to the bridge. As he did the Hive Second bowed to his commander, but on rising, met Todd's eyes.

Todd felt examined, scrutinised, and frowned suspiciously.

The Hive Second inclined his head in an almost respectful way, and said softly, "I will send your concubine to see to your injury."

Todd glanced at his hand, dripping blood to the laboratory floor. It was not deep, however painful it was and would heal quickly. It was nothing.

"Thank you for your consideration," he said, "but it is unnecessary."

"You must be tended," the Hive Second insisted quietly, and turning, left the doorway.

**

Sheppard wasn't about to admit to anyone that he didn't like it. Todd had been insistent. They would Gate to the world where the rendezvous would take place, and they would travel to the Hive by Wraith transport ship. He would have been happier with a Jumper or two up his sleeve.

McKay paced. The scientist was clearly agitated and every few steps checked his pockets for the many different pieces of computer equipment he had hidden about his person.

"Relax, McKay, it'll be… f-ine."

The last of his words came out as more of a grunt as another wash of pain flashed through him.

"John?" Keller asked softly, laying a hand on his arm.

He could only shake his head and breathe deeply for several moments until the pain subsided.

"I'm fine," he said at least, though he could feel the beads of sweat cooling against his brow.

"Sheppard," McKay said in warning as the low droning sounds of the Wraith transport ship because audible and before much longer came into view.

"I guess this is it," Jennifer said softly as the ship set down.

"If you're having second thoughts, we can always—" McKay started.

"No we can't," Sheppard said. "Eleventh hour changes of heart are the kinds of things that make Todd nervous. If he gets nervous things could get a little hairy so… let's just… stick with the plan."

Both Keller and McKay moved closer to him as the transport ship opened and several drones stepped out. Sheppard drew himself up taller, ready to meet Todd without a hint of weakness. However, it was not Todd that stepped from the ship, but his second in command – Kenny.

"Wait a minute," Sheppard rumbled as the Wraith came to a halt in front of them. "Where is he? Where's Todd?"

"If you are referring to my commander," Kenny answered, "he will meet us shortly aboard the Hive."

Sheppard frowned, unable to express, even to himself the concern this latest turn of events wrought within him.

"He was supposed to be here to meet us," Sheppard said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"And was unavoidably delayed," Kenny answered. "As I said, he will meet us shortly aboard the Hive."

Kenny turned then to give a small, but quite respectful bow to Doctor Keller. "He sends his apologies, Doctor Keller, but the matter was of the upmost importance. Perhaps we can help you with your equipment."

Before Keller could answer, at Kenny's gesture, the drones began to move forward to pick up the silver cases that stood on the ground at Keller's side.

"Just hold on—" Sheppard started to protest, but Kenny had already started to move toward the transport ship, and clearly expected them to follow him. He started to move, meaning to protest, when another wave of pain made him double over.

"It's all right, John," Keller's hand settled softly against his back. "We need to do this."

**

Vega had to grip the back of the Queen's throne to stop her hand from trembling. She felt edgy, as if she'd had too much caffeine. She could not help but take a deep breath before reaching out to continue braiding the Queen's long, bone white hair.

"You… had a disagreement," the Queen as much stated as asked.

"My Queen?" Vega asked, sounding as genuine as she could, as loyal and obedient, as Todd had stressed she must be during his absence…

_"Listen to me, my little Alicia," his voice rumbled through her, through the contact of where he held her in his arms, her back to his chest. "What I am to tell you, you will not like, but it is important that you do as I tell you."_

_"Todd?" she tried to turn, to see him, but his arms around her prevented it. Instead he leaned his head closer beside hers, nipping lightly at the side of her neck, behind her ear._

_Alicia gasped softly as a spiral of feeling began to uncoil inside of her. Her breathing quickened and it was as though everything she had been feeling gathered to be a whirling dance in her belly._

_"Until I return," he said as he pulled away a little, "you must stay close to the Queen. Do not leave her side."_

_The gathered feeling became a sudden panicked lurch and she stiffened._

_"You're going away?" she said fearfully._

_"I must," he explained. "There are matters I must attend to on my own Hive. Stay close to the Queen, and if there is trouble, seek out the Hive Second."_

_"The Secon-- Are you mad? I—" She felt sick, the thought of being on the Hive without his being there terrified her. "Please, Todd, take me with you."_

_Todd breathed out, long and slow._

_"My Alicia," he said at last. "Were it within my power to do such a thing, I would never have you leave my side."_

_"Then why?" she felt as though she were going to cry, and felt him turn her almost gently in his arms, guiding her face to tilt upward, to look at him._

_"Because it cannot be," he said firmly and before she could argue, he captured her lips beneath his, nipping at their softness with his teeth as he deepened the kiss._

…"With the other of my women," the Queen answered, breaking in on her thoughts.

"It… was nothing, My Queen," Vega said softly, finishing another braid. "A simple misunderstanding, nothing more."

"See that it remains as such," the Queen instructed.

"Yes, my Queen," Vega whispered obediently as she began another braid. She would never tell, not even Todd, what the argument had been about… that Hanna had suggested that Vega was trying, somehow, to entice all Wraith, especially the commanders, to fall at her feet… of somehow showing disloyalty to Todd, in the way other Wraith behaved around her. She had done nothing, and the accusation had upset her greatly.

_As suddenly as he had begun it, Todd broke the kiss, and began to move away._

_"Don't… please, don't go," she said, reaching for him again._

_"I must, my Alicia, because I fear if I do not now, then I will… prove my word to you untrue" he breathed deeply to control himself, "and I do not yet feel that it is what you wish._

**

"Look, I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason and we—"

"Oh, come _on_, Sheppard," McKay spat, spinning round to face the man. "I know you have… blinders when it comes to Todd, but this is ridiculous! We were supposed to stay _together_."

"According to the second in command, Rodney, there are quarters next to the laboratory… it _does_ make a kind of sense," Sheppard said, though McKay was sure that he detected a hint of uncertainty in Sheppard's voice.

"You don't believe that any more than I do," McKay said, voicing his suspicions.

"I have to, Rodney," Sheppard answered seriously, looking at him. "But if you're that worried I'll talk to him, to Todd, get him to—"

"Is there something wrong?" the light voice from the doorway as Todd came to join them again made McKay jump. "Something you need, that we have not provided?"

"No, just—" Sheppard started, but McKay cut him off, rattling the nervous sentence out of his mouth before his brain could stop him.

"Yes! Matter of fact, there's something wrong. Something very wrong—"

"Rodney," Sheppard tried to stop him.

"—the fact that you've separated us from Jennifer for starters that—"

"Do you mean the fact of Doctor Keller's accommodations being adjacent to the laboratory, while yours are here?" Todd asked, tilting his head curiously.

"Yeah, very convenient," McKay snapped, "Very effective way of—"

"There will be times when the doctor's research will span more than the length of a single day." The Wraith frowned and said, "I merely tried to be considerate of the doctor's needs and provide her with a place where the doctor can rest in the meantime. I would have thought such a thing would have been important to you also."

McKay opened his mouth to protest, and closed it again. Seething at his own stupidity – that he had allowed himself to be manipulated by a Wraith – backed into a corner where he had to agree, or be seen as unreasonable, making a fuss.

"Well… of course her comfort is important," he said, and frowned.

"I understand your suspicions, Doctor McKay," Todd continued softly, "and in your place would share them."

"You'll have to excuse McKay, he—" Sheppard started, and McKay frowned in his direction, then flinched as Todd raised his hand, trying to compose himself a moment later when he realised that the Wraith had done so in order to interrupt Sheppard.

"No. No, Colonel Sheppard, as I said I understand his concerns and take no offense in what is, after all, and understandable reaction." Todd said, and then turned in McKay's direction to say, "However, I can assure you, Doctor McKay, I have no intention of harming Doctor Keller. I simply require her… assistance with my research."

"But… Sheppard," McKay said sharply, causing the other man to look his way, almost reaching for the weapon at his side, "What about Sheppard. If you're gonna work together to cure him then—"

"Then he will be called to the laboratory at the appropriate time. There is much preliminary work that we must do before we are ready for that eventuality." Todd growled. "In the meantime, I suggest you rest… relax… and if there is anything further that you need, feel free to request it."

**

Todd growled softly as he watched the Guardian, standing, while his young queen paced the floor of her chamber, as though he was a helpless, mindless drone, and his contempt for the other spiralled in intensity.

He took a moment and shifted his gaze to look at the young Queen as she hurried to and fro. Even in the short time she had been aboard she had matured considerably and he had no reason to doubt his second's assessment of her condition. However, he was also very aware of the lingering effects of such proximity to the Elder Queen as he had enjoyed, in whom there was no doubt as to her Approach. If this young Queen was as she appeared to be, how was it possible that her Guardian did not respond?

A ripple among the shadows at the side of the room, Todd surged, swift and silent toward the immotile Wraith. A predator, deadly in his intent, he reached out with a growl as he stepped into the light, wrapping the fingers of his left hand into the suddenly struggling Wraith's hair to pull back his head.

With a shriek, the young Queen turned to face him. Had she spoken – uttered even a word in protest – she might have mitigated her impotent Guardian Commander's actions; saved his miserable life. Instead she stepped back, raising her hands in shock toward the terrible expression she wore on her face.

Todd snarled as he closed his hand around the hilt of his blade. He had seen behaviour more befitting of a Queen in the Humans of his acquaintance, and it disgusted him that this ineffectual thing that struggled with him like some grounded fish, could allow such a thing – worse still, that he could be the cause of it. He knew then that he had much work to do, and more still to _un_do.

Without a hint of mercy, he pressed the sharp serrated blade against the Guardian's neck, pulling back his head still further, and drove the knife home, cutting flesh and gristly sinew, his anger barely sated by the spray of bright arterial blood that filled the air with a deep musk-and-copper scent, and fell hot against his hand, the side of his own neck and face as he became bathed in it. Not until he felt the rasp of metal against bone did he cease the relentless pulling and allow the lifeless Guardian to fall at his feet.

"You killed him!" the young Queen screeched, her yellow eyes wide with panic. "My Guardian, my Guide, you—"

Stepping over the body of the fallen Wraith, Todd grabbed the young Queen's flailing arm by the wrist, twisted her arm behind her back, and pulled her toward him. He trapped her against his chest. He grabbed her hair and pulled back her head, forcing her to look at him. She struggled with him, against his restraining grasp, but was, as yet, no match for his strength.

"You lied!" she snarled amid the struggles. "You murdered him! You said that we would have a place here, a Hive."

"And you have," Todd growled, not easing up on the way in which he held her. "But that one was weak, ineffectual. How would he Guide you to your true power as Queen; your true purpose, when he could not even recognise your immediate needs?"

He leaned down to her then, breathing in deeply, running the scent of her over his tongue, drawing her through the sensory pits and confirming, without a doubt, the changes within her.

"But I need—"

"You need for nothing!" he roared at her, glaring into her eyes and reaching with his mind to subdue her racing panicked thoughts. He felt her struggling begin to subside. "I told you – I grant you survival; belonging; a Hive. You have no need of that one, for I am here."

_~I am here~ ~here~ ~here~ ~here~ ~here~_

For several moments longer he held her tightly against him, allowing the time for his words to penetrate her mind, for understanding to grow within her. As she calmed, as her striving with him ceased he loosened his hold on her, let go of the handful of hair with which he controlled her head and began to draw back away from her; away from the autonomic reaction they had each begun to display, and which he had no intention of allowing. When he serviced this Queen, it would be by _his_ design, at _his_ behest, not hers, and definitely under _his_ control.

She stood, regarding him as he stepped back and he saw her breath came in short, visible snatches as her own body's reaction, recognising him for what he was, gripped her tightly. Finally, cautious and slow, she reached out her feeding hand to lay her palm acquiescent against his chest.

He stood unflinching, tolerant of her touch, expecting the gesture – demanding it.

"My Commander," she said, almost softly echoing her acceptance of him.

He took another step back, and while stopping short of lowering himself to one knee before her, inclined his body into a low bow.

"Welcome to your Hive… my Queen."

**

Keller sat on the side of the low cot that graced the corner of the laboratory, her hand in her lap, staring at the Wraith drones by the door, and around at the equipment that lined the various benches around the room, to which she had added her own, more familiar gear.

Having unpacked and ensure that the samples she had transported with her had arrived intact, there had been little she could do. She had retreated to the cot, and a deep unease had settled over her. Not that any of the Wraith had done anything to cause it, save for being Wraith, but being separated from McKay and Sheppard disturbed her, wrapped that tight little spiral of doubt around her.

When Todd stepped through the door, between her Wraith guards, and stopped before coming more than two steps, Keller almost jumped to her feet and moved to a more open space.

"Doctor Keller," he greeted her, and gave a low bow. "Before another word passes between us, I feel compelled to impress upon you the sincerity of my apology concerning our previous… encounter… at the facility belonging to the one you call Michael. It was never my intention to harm you."

"You were using me as a shield!" she found she couldn't hold the anger and the flaring bite of nervousness inside, both at once, and the words exploded from her. "How the hell is _that _not harming me?"

She had not expected he would once again grace her with a low bow. "I accept your reprimand, Doctor, and ask forgiveness. I realise it must have been an… unsettling experience for you, but hope you understand that it was done of necessity, not with malice."

"I recognise the fact that you scared the crap out of me," she said, and her voice sounded shrill even to her own ears. "I had no idea… thought you were going to feed on me or—"

He started to move closer, and she backed away, moving until he stopped after only a step or two was taken.

"Allow me to assuage that fear," he said softly, "You have my word that while you are aboard my Hive, neither I, nor any of those answerable to me will do such a thing. You are here as my guest, and I sincerely hope that you and I can put our… earlier history… behind us in order to more effectively work together on solving these problems."

"Yeah, well I— You—" she stammered.

"Come now, Doctor Keller," he said, "my presence is not so intimidating, and once we are immersed in our work together, you will hardly notice that I am Wraith or anything other than a fellow scientist with whom you are sharing the benefit of your considerable experience."

He began to move again, coming more fully into the laboratory, and looking over the benches and equipment as though inspecting everything. In those moments he did appear somewhat less threatening, even though she turned to keep him in her sight.

"I kind of doubt that," she said as he moved, catlike and graceful, though it was a deadly kind of grace. Quickly she added, "No offense."

"None taken," he purred, drawing out the words. Then stopping beside a computer display screen he touched the control panel to activate the interface, calling up a number of records.

Keller crept a little closer as she saw the image of several turning spirals on the screen. "What's that?" she asked.

"These are some of the genome maps I should like to analyse with your help," he told her. "I regret there is a small matter I must attend to before we can begin our work together, but in the meantime, if you would like to begin examining my research data…"

He left the end of the sentence hanging, merely gestured toward the now active terminal.

"I'll… take a look," she said, inching closer still. The thought of being able to start work, to analyse what she could see, even from where she stood, would be a fascinating mapping, began to tease at the edges of her trepidation. Here was familiar ground. If only—

"In the meantime," Todd interrupted her thoughts, "if there is anything you think you may require, please tell me. I will see to it that it is provided at once. Whatever you need."

Keller glanced at the two drones by the door, and began softly, "Well… you said I was your guest, but…"

Todd turned his head to look in the direction of her gaze, and a moment later the two drones turned and left.

"They were merely assigned for your protection," he said. "As a visiting… diplomat, it would be unspeakable should anything happen to endanger you. Anything else?"

"What about…? Where are Sheppard and McKay?" she pushed, testing his willingness to comply.

"They have their own quarters closer to the other Human residents of the Hive. Why do you ask? You may visit with them whenever you wish," he answered.

"Well, aren't we going to want Sheppard up here? I mean—"

"Colonel Sheppard will join us when we have begun to find a solution, once our research together begins to yield results," he said. "Until then, I thought it would be best for him to continue resting in his quarters. Speaking of which, I trust the facilities I have provided for you are… adequate."

"Excuse me?" Keller blinked at him in confusion.

"Your quarters," he said, and frowned in confusion of his own, written as it was on his face. He turned to cross the laboratory, to press against a small panel in the wall, and a doorway opened with an organic rattle, lights illuminating in the room on the other side of the portal, to reveal what appeared a spacious and well appointed room. She came to his side, to peer into the room and visually examine the comforts that had been provided for her.

"Oh," she swallowed and looked up at him then, "I… thank you, I—"

"I told you, Doctor Keller," he purred, softening his expression into something approaching a smile. "You are my guest here. If there is something you feel you need, I will see to it that I do my best to provide it."

Keller took in a deep breath, and regarded the Wraith in front of her. Uncomfortable in the strange fluttering she felt inside at the dominant strength he displayed in his unyielding, uncompromising authority. Ordinarily it was something she hated - feared deeply - and yet, in this alien before her it began to penetrated the shield of frightened rebellion she held close against her in defence.

Finally she nodded, and placed a tentative hand onto his forearm. "Thank you," she said. "I… appreciate the efforts you've made. If you don't mind, I'd like to… freshen up before I take a look at the data."

"Of course," he said with a respectful nod, and stepped back, removing his arm from beneath her touch, so that she could access the room. "If you will excuse me?"

He did not wait for her answer. He merely gave another little bow, and then turned and left the laboratory.

**

He tilted his head as he regarded the scene below, trying to take account, to form an opinion of this prisoner they now called 'The Abomination' and to make sense of all he knew of this Hive, its commanders… this Queen and her self serving plans for the future.

"I don't understand," The young worshipper's voice was light, trembled slightly as she spoke to the creature to whom she had been given in service. "It does you no good to ignore your hunger. How will you heal?"

"Is that what you really want?" the creature answered her, and turned his head slowly towards her. She backed up a step. "For me to feed on you; take your life?"

"It is what he wants," she answered, "what has been asked of me in service of my Queen."

"Don't you get tired," the creature asked wearily, "Day in, day out… never a thought of your own…?"

The Hive Second remembered this one from before the Hive Queen had sent him away; sent him to do her bidding among the other, subordinate Hives. He had followed their daily arguments back and forth and had watched – waiting – ready to act should the moment have arisen. It never did. This one was careful, this one had always been a step ahead of her madness, and it _was_ madness. Of the four, _she_ was the least stable.

"My thoughts _are_ my own," she argued. "Only I know that it is better to obey than to defy and—"

"And what?" the creature asked, "Obey them now and there _is_ no 'and'… you will live… no more."

He saw her shake her head. "You were Wraith once. You know how it is, how it must be."

"Much has changed… since then," the creature rasped.

Did any of that justify this one's choices, this one's existence; this one's arrogance at taking on the mantle of Queens in what he so obviously had seen, since the beginning. How did he come to know?

As the question filtered across the stillness of his mind, the Hive Second could not help but feel a certain kindred with the creature that suffered below.

When the Second had realised the extent of this one's knowledge, it had been too late for him to approach The Scientist. The Hive Queen had already sent him to begin the task of bringing the other Queens to her side. If only she had seen how futile an endeavour it would be… as his Matron had seen….

_The summons had been quick and sharp in his mind, and he had immediately turned from the preparations he was overseeing, passing the control-rod into the hands of his sub-commander and without explanation – there was little need for words between them – turned to leave._

_She would not tolerate a tardy arrival, and nor did he desire to give one, and so he hurried. There would be time enough to compose himself within the pool as he approached. Still, he felt the grateful amusement touch his mind as she understood his purpose._

_As he stepped from the comfort of the filtered atmosphere, into the acrid environment of the red half-light outside the compound he let out a long, slow hiss. He welcomed the tingling that pricked along his skin, it served to remind him that he lived; of the achievements his kind had made, even after the devastation the invaders had caused; to remind him what it meant to be Wraith._

_One of the many silent attendants met him as he arrived at The Mound, shrouded against the acidity in the world's atmosphere, and yet still, as they reached to take the leather coat from him as he shrugged it off, he saw the beginnings of the damage on their pale hybrid hide. It would not be long before they would have to be replaced, and he made a mental note to do so. Perhaps if it was done soon enough, these few could be saved. He did so detest waste. However, if not – no matter. They were little more than the prey they farmed in the nearby facilities._

_He stood, immobile and emotionless as their cold hands moved over him, removing the garments that shielded him from the harshness of his world, only stepping forward as the light touch against his ankle craved him to do so, so that he could be rendered naked, to be cleansed by the pool._

_The liquid was a cool, soothing balm after the harshness of the outside. As he descended the steps into its thick, gelatinous depths, he felt the action of the primal organisms that gave it mass renewing and refreshing his body, cleansing him of weight of all that was outside of these hallowed walls. This was the lifeblood that flowed through the sinews and strands that wove together, knitted flesh to cover the frames that made their shelters; their nests… the means of their dissemination._

_He waded through, knowing that others waited for him beyond this pool; attendants to dress him, to make him fit to go before the Matriarch, Matron, Queen._

_They swaddled him with the fine silk of robes befitting his station, their touch so light it was almost insubstantial, ghostlike. Their silence was comforting and respectful, and when they were finished they melted away, allowing him to continue without fuss or hindrance._

_It was not much further to reach his goal, and around him he began to hear the rustling of the tendrils that slipped over the rock walls to allow his passage. It was darker here, a strange kind of black-light that accentuated the pale qualities of his skin, and the veins that ran through his flesh._

_He heard her breathing before he saw her… sitting in her throne-like chair, nourished and nourishing her charges through the action of the tendrils that surrounded her, caressed her silk clad body in their questing search over her._

_He stopped in the middle of the chamber and lowered himself to one knee, his head bowed, as she began to move and the tendrils fell away. He had no need to watch to know the deadly grace with which she moved._

_"My Matron," he said softly, barely above a whisper. "You sent for me."_

_Her long fingered hand curled and uncurled before him before she reached to cup his chin in their heated grasp and raise his eyes to hers. As he did, he saw her gravid form, swollen and beautiful with the new life seeded within her – life that awaited transference._

_The markings over her almost white-green flesh were almost mesmeric as they entwined her body – their darkness showing through the light coloured silk she wore – accenting her form, spiralling over her arms, and reflected in the dark golden burning of her eyes as he met them at last._

_Her answer was an emotion, sensation, a whisper around him and through his mind._

_::they have spawned and now have Hives of their own.::_

_At the unvoiced pressure of her mind guiding him to rise, to support her, and warmed by her presence, her closeness, her trust; as her hand clasped over his forearm and she leaned against him as they moved, he felt her sudden rush of concern for those of her progeny whose existence and whose lines existed on the satellite worlds of the one on which he stood._

_"Something is wrong, My Queen?"_

_::Go to them… guide them... __**be**__ with them…::_

…seen and sent him to curb the damage that their individuality, their ambition could have and had caused. Somewhere, in the chain of events that had led to their creation, and the migration of the Wraith; somewhere in the chaos left behind in their ordered society after the others had wreaked the ineffectual attempts at genocide; somewhere in the wake of it all, were left some few individuals who understood and he must be the one to bring them home.

"Why not just… submit? Save yourself all of this?" the young worshipper's voice carried up to him as he refocused his mind on the two of them below.

"She wants only one thing," what remained of the former scientist answered bitterly. The second moved a little closer to the open space, to fix his eyes on the twisted, tortured almost-wraith.

"And you still will never give it to her," The Second whispered softly to himself, adding darkly, "will you?"

**

The organic hum of the Hive's hyperdrive, the vibration beneath her feet had become a comfort to Jennifer, in spite of her initial fears as they had entered the subspace on their way to a world that may yield many secrets concerning the nature of, and possible cure for, the Hoffan drug. She had thrown herself into the work, alternating between studies of the problems associated with the Hoffan Protein, and providing Todd with a complete mapping of several DNA samples she had taken from Sheppard in order that they could find a way to halt and reverse the effects of the retrovirus.

Keller turned again from her deep study of the images on her screen. In the many days they had been working together, she had taken many pages of scribbled notes, and was fascinated by the state of DNA seen in some of the samples.

She watched Todd working for a moment, the way he was concentrating almost entirely on the delicate dissection he was performing. She couldn't help but recall his earlier words to her, and finding some truth in them, at least for the moment, she let out a small harrumph. After only another moment, finished with what he was doing, he turned to face her.

Before he could question her about the sound, she asked, "What are these anyway?" She gestured toward her screen.

"A visual representation of DNA belonging to a Human woman, suffering the systemic failure associated with exposure to the Hoffan Protein, whom I was able to… save," he told her.

Keller blinked. The news shocked her deeply. "You cured her?"

"I prevented her death," he corrected her. "Though it was hardly a cure. The treatment in itself almost ended her life."

"How?" Keller asked, coming closer to him, curious. "What did you do?"

"I used a modified amino acid chain from the opposite rhesus factor that is found in your Human blood," he told her.

Keller frowned. "You deliberately caused her to suffer Rhesus Factor Immunological problems?"

She couldn't begin to imagine what that must have been like for the poor woman, through actually she could and it did not warrant thinking on the effects, possible side effects and how life threatening such an action was.

"Introducing the serum into her system, catalysed by direct exposure to Wraith enzymes, caused the surface of the cells in the Hoffan Protein to mutate and finally bond with the appropriate blood cells belonging to the woman in question, while her immune system dealt with the introduced cells. Extreme, perhaps, but effective," he said with a shrug.

"Are you suggesting a rhesus factor commonality between those that get sick?" she asked, frowning as her mind made the leap toward that as a possibility, an avenue of investigation opened before her.

Again Todd shrugged, "I have not had access to sufficient numbers of sufferers in order to make that determination, Doctor," he said.

"But…" She took another step in his direction, asking in mounting excitement, "but if there is that would be a breakthrough in terms of finding a cure, wouldn't it?"

"Perhaps so," he purred. "If you have a moment, Doctor Keller, I require your assistance."

"What is it?" she asked, watching as he picked up a syringe from the top of the table in front of him.

"In order to make any comparisons, when the time comes, we require a control sample," he said softly. "I assume you have not had direct exposure to any pathogens or other similar substances. I thought perhaps…"

"You want a sample of my blood?" she asked, frowning slightly.

"For comparison purposes only," he reiterated. "If you would rather not, I can instruct one of my worshippers—"

"No, no," she shook her head and crossed the rest of the way to where he stood, turning the syringe lightly in his hand. "It's fine. It makes sense. I'm here after all."

She tried to be casual about the way she shrugged off her uniform jacket, but she could feel his eyes on her, couldn't help but wonder what was running through his head as he looked on the light blue undershirt she wore. Taking a breath she lay down her jacket before perching on the nearby stool, and presenting her arm to him along the table top.

She jumped as his fingers closed around her arm, lifting it slightly to reposition it before him. His fingertips, moving along the line of her veins, were warmer than she had expected, and the lightness of his touch along the sensitive inside of her arm almost burned.

"Wait," she said and pulled back her arm as he applied pressure to a place on her forearm. He looked up at her quizzically. She asked, "You have done this before, right?"

He gave a slightly sideways nod of confirmation. "I have done this before."

She took a deep breath, and let it out in a rush as she said, "Okay."

"Surely you are not… squeamish?" he questioned, applying the pressure again.

"Not when it comes to other people's blood, no," she answered, and couldn't help but give an embarrassed little smile. "When it comes to my own, though, and people taking it—"

"I shall endeavour," he said softly, "to be gentle."

Even so she winced as he inserted the needle, and bit her lip. Slowly he reduced the pressure behind the needle, allowing her blood to flow freely into the vial, carefully supporting her arm with the sure grasp of his hand.

"Forgive me… Jennifer," he rumbled quietly. "Did I hurt you?"

Keller swallowed, and shook her head. His use of her first name was unexpected, personal, yet no less respectful than he had addressed her before.

"No, no," she managed to force the words out, "like I said, when it's my blood…"

"The procedure is almost complete," he told her, and reached for a small swab with which to prevent bleeding when he withdrew the needle. As he did, his fingertips grazed her wrist, entirely accidental, and she blushed at her own reaction.

Apparently oblivious, Todd laid the small white square of material over the needle puncture as he withdrew the syringe, and nodded to her to take over the application of the pressure while he finalised the storage of the sample.

"Perhaps it would be beneficial if we were both to rest," he said, his voice light. "There is still much to do, and I should hate for either of us to make mistakes due to fatigue."

"No, I… I'm all right," she told him, examining the wound, and satisfied that there was no more bleeding. "I'd like to continue with the samples, for a while at least, but… if you have something you need to do, I can… close up shop for the day."

He regarded her for a moment, looking puzzled, and she supposed he must have been trying to work out the Human idiom. Just as she was about to explain, he spoke.

"Very well," he said. "I need to return to the bridge to ensure that all is well. If I am not too long with my subordinates, I may return later, otherwise, rest well, Jennifer. We will begin again after we have slept."

**

"Mister Dex!"

Ronon growled as Varnerin's voice reached him along the corridor.

"Ronon," he said, correcting the man for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Of course," Varnerin said as he caught up. "Ronon. I wondered if I might have a word."

"You already are, it looks like," Ronon answered, not at all slowing his steps. When the professor didn't continue, he said, "What do you need?"

Varnerin sighed. "I've been thinking about something Colonel Sheppard said."

"What part? He said a lot of things," Ronon said, hoping that he sounded as bored as he was with the psychologist's machinations.

"About Teyla."

Ronon stopped walking then, and rounded on the other man, stepping menacingly toward him.

"Whatever you're about to say about Teyla, you better be _real_ careful," he warned.

Professor Varnerin held up his hands, meant as a calming gesture. "I was only going to say that I saw some merit in suggesting that someone should go and check on her." He stood straighter, guiltless. Momentarily confused, Ronon did not react to the suggestion more than to cock an eyebrow.

"It has been quite some time since we heard from _any _of the Athosians, let alone from Teyla herself, and with the current escalating conflict I began to think it would be wise if Atlantis were to… check up on her allies from time to time – make sure they're safe." Varnerin said.

Ronon folded his arms. In spite of his own growing worries for Teyla and her people, he was not in the slightest bit taken in by the act that Varnerin was giving for his benefit. The man was up to something.

"Woolsey know that's how you feel?" he asked.

"What Richard does or doesn't know about the way I feel is irrelevant, Miste—Ronon," Varnerin answered. "What matters is that you and I both know that, particularly in this instance, standing orders concerning limiting our involvement with the inhabitants of this galaxy are, quite frankly, a crock."

Ronon's eyebrow shot even higher, and he shook his head. "I'm not falling for it, Varnerin."

"I'm not your enemy, Ronon," Varnerin answered. "There's no _it_ to fall for."

Ronon sighed, and Varnerin waited for a moment before he spoke again.

"Just think about it, Ronon." He said. "Anything could be happening out there."

**

Todd watched as Keller half straightened up from the microscope to stretch her back, reaching up and behind her to rub at the back of her neck. He could feel her fatigue, but after several days of working with the Human, he knew her tenacity. She would not stop until she was satisfied with the notes she had made.

Letting out a long, quiet hiss, he turned his attention back to the surprising results the computer analysis of the latest DNA sample revealed. He looked over at Keller again, and let out another soft growl from the back of his throat as he deactivated the computer, and started across the room.

**

She ached. She had been hunched over the microscope, or over the preparation of her samples the entire day, lost in her work, forgetting the passage of time. It wouldn't be long before she would _have_ to call it a night.

She straightened up again to stretch her back, meaning to flex her shoulders, but before she could move, she felt heat behind her, the presence of another, before the touch of Todd's hand on her shoulder, the pressure of his thumb against the tight muscle at the base of her neck brought an almost painful relief.

"You should rest… Jennifer." His voice was low, a quiet rumble in the hushed lab. The strength in his fingers found the most knotted of her muscles, and he purred, "Allow me…"

She let out a small sound, and tilted her head to stretch the muscle as he applied the pressure, and jumped as she felt the stirring of the air above her shoulder and the heat of him behind her, closer now, before she felt light scrape of metal against the skin of her neck as he swept her hair side, baring her neck.


	2. Act 2

Stargate Atlantis

**Deliverance**

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

**Act 2**

As soon as he cleared the event horizon he set off at a quick, almost forced march in the direction of the Athosian settlement where, almost four months before, he had returned Teyla to her people.

The shielding trees hid the village from his eyes, though over their tops he could see a column of smoke rising into the otherwise clear sky as it darkened from evening toward night.

He stomach lurched as the recall of his nightmare came on him unbidden…

_In front of him lay the ruins of the settlement, scattered from one side of the clearing to the other. The debris from the broken houses and workshops littered the ground, while the smoking remains of burned-out homes stood as blackened scars in the untidy remains of his friend's home._

… and as he broke from the tree line, he came to a halt and almost bent double in relief. In front of him the settlement bustled with activity around a huge fire in the central clearing, on which he could see some large creature roasting. In baskets, scattered around the clearing, vegetables and loaves of bread all but spilled onto the ground. It seemed that the Athosians were thriving, preparing for some kind of feast. He relaxed a little, and set off toward the settlement, to find his friend's home.

"Teyla!" he called out in greeting as he approached, and several of the milling Athosians turned his way, one or two whispering among themselves. He started to feel uneasiness tightening in his belly once more. Lightly he touched the arm of one of the nearby women and explained, "I'm looking for Teyla."

The woman shook her head and turned aside, but not before looking pointedly toward one of the buildings beside the clearing. Her look sent him hurrying toward the roundhouse, where he began to reach for the canvass doorway to lift it aside.

Before he could, the fabric was moved aside and the tall, stocky figure of Halling appeared in the doorway.

"Ronon," he said with a smile, and then reached out to place his hands on Ronon's shoulders, lowering his head to share a greeting with the man. When they both straightened he continued, "It is good to see you."

Halling kept a hand on Ronon's shoulder, turning him and beginning to walk with him away from the busy community centre.

"What's going on, Halling?" Ronon asked, frowning slightly, not missing the pointed expression the Athosian man had thrown his way before they started walking.

"We are preparing for a feast of thanksgiving," Halling told him, "You are more than welcome to join us."

"Thanks," Ronon said, "but that's not what I mean."

"I know," Halling said softly, leading him further into the gathering darkness at the outer edge of the village. Once they were clear of prying eyes and ears, Halling continued, "You are looking for Teyla?"

"She's not here, is she?" Ronon asked. It was obvious to him anyway.

"No, she is not," Halling said and shook his head. "Barely weeks after she came to us, the dreams began."

"Dreams?"

"She would not speak of them, only that they haunted her, she said," Halling explained, "and she said she feared her presence here was endangering us."

"So she left?" Ronon asked.

"Not at first," Halling shook his head. "I managed to persuade her to stay, for a time at least."

"So what happened?"

"The Wraith came," Halling said. The Athosian sighed, "Teyla barely had time to warn us before they were upon us. They came out of a clear night sky. A circle of lightning, high overhead, and then, even as Teyla was crying at us all to make for the trees, the ship appeared in the sky, spilling the Darts out over us."

Ronon frowned. What Halling was describing sounded as though the Wraith had come out of hyperspace in the atmosphere, or very close.

"How many did you lose?" he asked softly, gripping Halling's shoulder. "And why didn't you—"

"Contact Atlantis?" Halling interrupted. "A vote was taken following the attack, and my people did not wish to involve the people of Atlantis. Though many of you are welcome here, Ronon, the attitude of your leaders hurt many among us. It will be some time in healing – this rift between us."

"I'm sorry, Halling," Ronon said.

"You need not apologise, Ronon," Halling told him, "You, Colonel Sheppard, Doctor McKay… all of you have proven to be true friends to us, and neither me nor my people would ever turn you away."

Ronon sighed. Though he could understand the Athosians' feelings, he still felt uncomfortable knowing that they were effectively consigning themselves to facing the dangers alone because of them.

"So how many?" he asked again.

"Some six families were affected by losses. The culling was brief and over almost as soon as it began," Halling told him.

"And Teyla left because of it?" Ronon asked.

Halling nodded. "No one missed the fact that the majority of those taken were women," he said.

"And she blamed herself?" It did not take much for Ronon to jump to that conclusion.

"We tried to persuade her otherwise," Halling explained, "but she said that in her dreams… that the warning was clear… that..."

Halling trailed off with a shrug, clearly upset by what had happened.

"Where would she have gone?" Ronon squeezed Halling's shoulder again, trying to be a comfort to the man, but just as worried about Teyla, he wasn't sure he was being very successful.

"I do not know," Halling said softly, "but it has been several weeks now and none of us have seen her, nor have those we trade with been able to give word of her."

Ronon took a deep breath as images flowed into his mind, betraying his calm.

_She tried to take a step, and staggered a little, reaching out to clasp Michael's forearm to steady herself._

_"Teyla!"_

_He cried out for her, and his arms closed around her in support as he drew her closer to him._

_"Michael," she whispered as her strength failed._

In death, she had turned to him, why not in life, in this universe. He had her son, that was supposedly the lever he used in the other universe, much further along in time but—

"Ronon, is something wrong? Something you are not sharing?" Halling's voice broke his unwelcome memories.

Ronon flushed, embarrassed at being caught thinking such things of Teyla – his Teyla, his sister – she would never…

"I just worry for her, Halling," he said, "but I'll find her. I'll ask Zelenka to help, and as soon as I know something—"

"I know that you will tell me," Halling laid a hand onto his arm. "You are a good man, Ronon Dex."

**

She tried to time her walk along the corridor so that she would not meet any of the Wraith sub-commanders coming in the opposite direction. Vega would have preferred it if she did not meet any other Wraith at all. In spite of her obvious status she still did not trust that they would not try to feed on her.

Her reluctance to move was shattered by the faint sound of a sob that reached her from the shadows toward which she was trying to make her way. As she began to move, she made out the figure hunched in those shadows, a young woman, and even from the distance Vega could tell that she was in pain.

As she got nearer, the woman looked up and reached out toward Vega. There was blood on her hand and from the way she clutched at herself, and from her field medic training, it was not hard for Vega to work out what had happened, or rather what _was_ happening.

"Easy," Vega clasped the young woman by her outstretched hand and, wrapping her other arm around her shoulders to support her, said, "I've got you. How long have you been like this?"

"The… pain, it began a while ago, but—" the woman started, but then moaned loudly as another wave of pain came over her.

"How far along?" Vega asked, carefully easing the woman to sit against the wall, trying to make her comfortable.

"What?" the woman asked, trembling and pulling at her blood-soaked skirts.

Vega gently laid her hand on the woman's belly. Under the touch she could almost feel the muscles cramping.

"How long?" she asked again.

"The passing of two months, maybe a little more," the woman answered. At her words, Vega became acutely aware of her own body's rhythm, of how she had been caring for her needs since she arrived on the Hive without really thinking about it. Now… seeing this young woman in front of her… Vega shivered. The woman continued, "My Lord's feeding must have ended it."

Vega looked at the woman in something approaching horror, her eyes drifting upwards, past the fresh feeding mark to settle on her face, which was creased in the expression of her pain.

"A Wraith did this?" Vega asked, but the girl did not answer, except to grip her hand tightly. "You need help. A doctor… someone—"

"There is no one," the woman gasped. "None to help."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Vega said, appalled that the worshippers aboard the Hive, as this woman implied, would be unwilling to give succour to this woman as she lost her child.

"You are not—" the woman started, but then shaking her head told her, "You are fortunate, Handmaiden, that you do not—"

"Alicia," Vega said, "My name is Alicia."

"Isla," the woman gasped.

"Well, Isla," Vega said, "if the position of handmaiden is of any help at all – even if I have to lie, I'm getting you some help. Try to hold on."

**

Isla closed her eyes as the Queen's handmaiden began to hurry toward the Lower Station Quarters. She doubted the woman – Alicia – would find anyone willing to help, even among the other women whose role aboard the Hive was to ensure the Human population of Pureborn did not dwindle and leave the Wraith with none to serve them. It was not unheard of for some Wraith to feed and end the life of a child before it had begun, and those breeding were to see to their own care, and unless they were fortunate enough to find an influential benefactor, it was no easy task.

She could not help but glance after the retreating figure of the Queen's Handmaiden and wondered how one with so little understanding of the Hive and its community of worshippers could have risen to such a position.

**

McKay turned away slightly as he passed the Wraith in the hallway, so that his hand-held computer couldn't be seen. He had followed what he thought were the right hallways to lead to where the laboratory should have been situated – at least according to his map – and had been disappointed when he walked into an empty room. He'd had no choice but to turn back; get back to Sheppard before he was discovered.

His sense of direction held true, and after turning at the third dead end in as many corridors, McKay sighed heavily.

"Come on, McKay, you got out, you can get back…" he told himself, setting out for the main corridor again, feeling uncomfortably as though he were being watched.

**

Sheppard pulled himself up into a sitting position again and began to wonder if he should send out a search party for McKay. The scientist had been gone for… well he had no idea how long, as he had lost all track of time, but it was a long while, and he was starting to get worried.

With an effort he pushed himself up from the cot on which he had been resting and swayed slightly, and reached out to steady himself against the wall of the Hive before heading for the door.

His path across the room was one that, in other circumstances, might have been funny. It made him seem as though he were drunk, but given that, over the past few hours he'd almost been able to _feel_ his body mutating, the fact that he couldn't even hold a straight line across a room did not amuse him much.

As he staggered against the wall on which the panel was fixed that opened the door to his and McKay's quarters, he gasped softly and reached out a hand that trembled toward the controls. He took the time to square himself up to anyone that might have seen him from the other side. He would not show weakness. He fell back when the doors opened to the worried face of McKay.

Startled he swore softly at the added jarring to his already sore muscles and bones. McKay, however, yelped. It was a very feminine cry.

"Jesus, Sheppard, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" the irritated scientist said.

"_I_ did?" he snapped, starting to try and get himself up off the floor. After a moment McKay leaned down to help him, supporting him as far as the nearest chair where he sat, slightly breathless but recovering, until at last he asked, "Well?"

He looked up and saw McKay shake his head. Then McKay said, "I did find the way to where Todd keeps the worshippers though."

"Well that's great," Sheppard said sarcastically, "but how does that help us to find Jennifer."

"I don't know," McKay said, whiny in his irritation, and somewhat crestfallen, added, "You try… walking around out there, Wraith at every turn, not like there's signposts. We could maybe ask one of them, or—"

McKay cut off at the sound of the door opening behind him, and Sheppard glanced that way in time to see Todd striding through the widening gap.

"Doctor McKay," Todd said even before he was fully into the room. "If there was something you needed you could simply have asked for assistance instead of… wandering the halls of the Hive."

"Yeah," McKay said defensively. "Well, no offense but—"

Sheppard cut him off quickly and got to his feet, turning to face Todd as he said, "I thought you said we were your guests here, not your prisoners."

He watched as Todd looked between him and McKay. The Wraith looked somewhat perplexed, he thought, though in a slightly irritated kind of way. Eventually Todd broke the silence.

"Indeed, you are most welcome to walk around where you wish," he purred, and spreading his arms to the sides of him, added, "I merely mention it because, by all reports, Doctor McKay seemed to be a little… lost."

McKay's face became a picture of embarrassed indignation as he answered, "For your information, I wasn't… lost – okay, I may have taken a wrong turn here and there but—"

"Had you asked," Todd interrupted, his voice rumbling softly across the scientist's hurried prattle, "I believe you would have found the Humans of this Hive's Lower Station to be… most accommodating."

Sheppard bristled, more than aware that Todd had, without a doubt, just informed them of the limits of their freedom. Challenging, he said, "So, we can visit with your worshippers, but stay away from the Lab, right?"

"Our research is at a crucial stage, Sheppard. For the time being you should not disturb… Jennifer," Todd said, and though he spoke mildly, the familiarity with which the Wraith spoke Keller's name, coupled with the underlying warning growl on the syllables at the end of it, lent fuel to the suspicions pricking at Sheppard's spine.

Before he could speak, however, McKay's overly righteous indignation flared in the face of the Wraith's interdiction.

"Not disturb…! Who the _hell_ do you think you are?" McKay snapped, even taking a step toward Todd. "She's not your personal slave, she's our _friend_."

"I'm well aware of your relationship to her, Doctor McKay," Todd answered, his voice sharp as he took a step toward the scientist. Then, however, the Wraith took a deep breath and letting it out, softened both his vocal inflection and his body language as he added, "However, as I said, our research is at a crucial stage and it would be… beneficially if, for the time being, distractions were kept to a minimum."

The warning fingers still prickled along Sheppard's spine and he was, not in the slightest, convinced there wasn't more going on than either he or McKay could understand.

Agitated, he demanded, "What the fuck are you playing at, Todd?"

"Playing, Sheppard?" The Wraith asked and an eye ridge rose in query before he growled softly, "I can assure you this is no game."

"Listen to me, you sorry son-of-a—"

A sharp and deep biting pain flared in the centre of his chest, cutting off his words; all awareness of everything but the straining of his heart against the twisting and gnawing inside of him. He gasped, a breathy sound as the agony cut off even his strength to cry out, and stumbled forward slightly, one of his legs beginning to give way under him.

He saw both McKay and Todd step forward, but Todd was both the quicker and the stronger of the two, catching his arm supportively, holding him while the wave of mutative pain held him in its grip.

**

The air in the Lower Station was rank with tension. Hushed oppression met every turn of the corridors through which Vega hurried, moving from person to person, trying to get even one of them to give her more than a disparaging look.

As she moved further, the Human population of the Hive was revealed to her, in a wider, open chamber where benches and tables were scattered and individuals, both men and women, busied themselves in near silence about their tasks. Those who were in groups barely spoke louder than a murmur, their heads together even then, as though they feared to be overheard.

"Please," Vega approached one such group. The worshippers turned their backs even though the eyes of at least one of them widened at seeing how she was dressed. Undeterred, Vega reached for the arm of one woman in the next group she came to.

"Please, it's one of you, she needs he—"

The woman pulled away, then steered her companions away from Vega as the sound of booted feet began to echo in the murmuring silence. Vega turned, expecting some faceless drone, or arrogant sub-commander. She gasped softly as two men approached.

They were clad in the same tooled leather coats as their Wraith masters, though theirs were less ornate and shorter than those worn by the Wraith. The leather rustled as they moved, in a way that reminded Alicia of a hissing cobra, presage of trouble.

"You're causing a disturbance, Handmaiden," one of the men said as he approached.

"And I apologise," Vega answered, urgency lending her the audacity to answer. The man quite obviously had status in the Hive, "but it's Isla. She needs help. She's losing a lot of blood and—"

"Taevun, you—" the other man said.

"How do you know this?" Taevun demanded, cutting off his companion.

"I just came from her," Vega said. "She's in trouble. You have to—"

"An individual among us shirking her duties?" Taevun said. "Perhaps this is her reward for it. She—"

Vega was incensed and without thinking about what she was saying, snapped, "How dare you! It is not for you to mete out justice and I do not think Our Queen would be pleased to hear of your disregard for the lives of her servants. Bad enough that you care not for the life already lost, that could, in time, have served her pleasure!"

He glared at her, and she knew that she had caught him, so before she lost her nerve completely she demanded of him to follow her.

"Stay here," Taevun said to his companion. "Restore what decorum this one has disturbed."

**

Isla heard the footsteps approaching, booted feet, and the lighter, hurried fall of slippered ones and looked up, her hand immediately travelling to the shawl she had laid down nearby, reaching for the reassurance of the solid hilt of her master's blade.

The Handmaiden was coming, closely followed by Taevun, and the Handler had murder written on his face. She'd seen his anger before, when she had refused him; when she had told him she had no leave to allow him the use of her; when he had done this to her.

_Bring me his heart._

Her Lord's words rang through her memory and in spite of her pains, she picked up the blade and pushed herself to her feet again, and as the Handmaiden and the Handler came closer, she flew from the shadows toward them.

**

Isla rushed from the shadows. Her shoulder struck Vega's chest and the motion of her arm pushing hard against her sent Vega sprawling to the floor, off to the side, out from between her, and the Handler.

"Isla, what are you—?" Vega began. Then she saw the blade in Isla's hands. "Isla, no! Don't!"

Isla slashed with the blade, a huge, wide slash that caught Taevun unprepared; drew a gash down along his cheek and the hand he raised in self defence. She drew back her arm then, preparing for another strike, blade leading, aiming for his chest, but he turned aside, and she stabbed his bicep, dragging out the knife in such a way as to leave his arm useless.

Vega gasped. This was no opportunistic, fearful attack. The woman knew how to fight, how to harm, and was intent on doing more than that. As he started to fight back, Vega climbed to her feet. She had to stop this before it went too far.

Timing her move she tried to push Isla as the other woman tried to strike again; to send her away, off balance, but Taevun lashed out at the same moment, catching Vega a glancing blow against her shoulder as he attempted to backhand his attacker's face.

Isla leaped at him again, growing more frantic, actually snarling at him and trying to latch on, catch hold with nails and with teeth, even as she tried to stab at him repeatedly with the blade. Like a feral thing, a wounded animal reacting to her pain, Isla tried again and again, and Vega could not get close for the wildly swinging blade to be of much assistance.

"Isla, stop it!" she cried out again, but the woman could not, or would not hear her. She tried once more, and this time managed to catch Isla's wrist, to pull her away from Taevun.

"Let me _go_!" Isla snarled, and snatching her hand away from Vega's grasp, turned back to Taevun in time to all but walk into his defensive assault. She fought him, locked together, yet still trying to bring the blade to bear against the man.

**

He was prowling.

The Hive Second slowly walked the halls of the Hive toward the Lower Station. Since leaving the Queen's antechamber he had been unable to settle, and around him the Hive itself poured oil onto the fire of his disquiet. As he drew nearer to the corridors and chambers surrounding the Lower Station his sensitive hearing began to pick up the sounds of scuffles… scuffles and growling, striving; the sounds of a fight. Frowning, he picked up his already increasing pace, and headed further in.

**

Vega gave a short cry as another of the woman's wild swings caught her across the arm, slicing against her skin even as she tried to block the passage of the blade. Greater troubles appeared at her back a moment later, when Taevun's companion arrived from within the worshipper's quarters with a handful of men in support. They each of them sought to reach the struggling pair, and the press of the newcomers pushed Vega closer to the two combatants.

Limbs tangled, making the fight seem much larger than it was. Worshippers reached for each other, grabbing at random, and ducking to try and avoid getting caught by Isla's desperately swinging blade, while Vega found herself pressed more and more closely against the struggling pair.

"What is the meaning of this?" A two-toned demand for answers cut into the cries and the striving moans, but did little to halt the tide of the fight.

Vega felt stronger hands grasp her arm than those of the worshippers, tugging against her where she was trapped in the press of several others, as the Wraith sub-commander tried to find his way through the confusion to the desperate knot of pain and anger at its centre. An almost sharp pain in her shoulder accompanied the pull, as sudden as it was, but she was trapped until the man at her side was sent sailing away by the angry push the Wraith gave to him. However, the arrival of the Wraith only seemed to make Isla more desperate – more determined.

**

The scent of blood, heavy in the air was the first observation to reach the Hive Second as he stepped into the junction where Wraith and worshipper were embroiled together in a single conflict. He frowned in deep distaste that it should be.

Then he spotted the Queen's Handmaiden, or rather scented her first, trapped in the middle of the knot of striving bodies, a sharp clear scent that sent his every instinct into battle with his intellect.

Without a thought to his own safety, his own involvement, he reached into the thick of the Humans and wrapped his arm around the Handmaiden's waist, lifting her away from possible harm amid the confusion; then driving her toward the nearest of the bulkheads.

**

Vega yelped as the vice clamped around her waist, and clutched at the arm that hauled her free of the others. She had no time to catch her breath before she stumbled as she was set down, before her gut clenched and her heart twisted as she saw the open trembling maw of a feeding hand descend toward her chest as she collided with the bulkhead.

"No!" she pleaded and grasped at the wrist, clawing as best she could with her dull nails; trying to free herself, expecting the sharpness of an unsuccessful feeding to burn at her chest.

Her breathing quickened, the sound of the fight receding to a dull sound as if through water as the rush of her own blood in her ears filled her with deepening panic as the fingers of the hand pressed, spread against her chest.

"Cease!"

_{cease} {cease} {cease} {cease} {cease}_

The expected pain did not come.

**

The multi-tonal command echoed around the chamber, swirling around him, and through him even as the word left his own lips.

A long, breathy growl issued from his throat as the Handmaiden's desperate struggles with him lessened, and though her fingers did not leave his wrist, she no longer tried to claw away his hand. The touch of her skin against his was scalding, a test, and testament to his self control as his biochemical response twisted itself around his consciousness.

_{do not fight me, girl} {do not fight} {not fight}_

Even as he spoke to the Handmaiden, his eyes turned toward the others; toward his servant, held now between the Handlers, and to the other Pureborn, on their knees before these Wraith and drones the Hive Second had summoned.

**

Vega shuddered as she felt the trickle of fluid passing down her chest to run between her breasts, soak into the velveteen bodice of her dress. Her skin tingled, almost as though tiny feet were walking a random pattern over her skin where his hand pressed against her, and her stomach turned, over and over, a lurch of adrenaline induced trepidation, and mingled excited uncertainty.

The junction of the corridors had fallen silent, like the lull before some great destructive force of nature was unleashed on the land.

"Speak," the Hive Second commanded, looking at Taevun's companion, but Taevun, still breathing hard; bleeding from many gashes to his body, spoke up harshly.

"This bitch," he shook Isla, and Vega winced as the woman stifled a cry. "She jumped me. She—"

"Silence!" The Hive Second snapped, and though he did not raise his voice, Taevun stumbled back, away from Isla, and fell to his knees as soon as he could stop stumbling. "_He _will speak."

"My Lord," the other Handler answered hurriedly. "The Handmaiden came to ask us to bring help to this one. Taevun went with her. Some time after, the sound of a struggle reached me and I brought others, meaning to end the disturbance."

Vega thought the Handler looked and sounded terrified to have given such an answer, and knew she had brought trouble to the worshippers.

"Please, I—" she started, but the touch of his mind in hers stole her breath and compelled her to silence.

_{do not speak} {do not speak} {not speak}_

The Hive Second tilted his head, and looked toward the sub-commander, standing arrogantly beside the knot of now subservient worshippers. The other Wraith nodded slowly once.

"Take her to my quarters," The Hive Second instructed, soft and yet unyielding.

Vega almost fell against the Second when he released her from the pressure of his hand holding her in place. The reprieve from his touch was only temporary as, a moment later, his fingers clamped around her wrist. Her entire arm ached at his touch.

She watched as two drones came to take the place of the Handler, supporting Isla, one on each side, holding on to her arms as they began to lead her away. She wanted to ask if the Hive Second would see to her care; would bring her the help she needed. Vega dare not speak again, not even to ask. Another moment passed and the Hive Second began to walk, pulling her along behind him like some errant child.

"And deal with _that_!" he said with great distaste.

As they hurried from the corridor, Vega turned her head to look back the way they had come. She was in time to see the sub-commander leaning over the kneeling Handler in the split second before Taevun's agonised cry began.

**

The drones took Isla no further than the threshold of the door, and opened it so that she could make her way inside. Without the benefits of the adrenalin that had been flowing through her, the pains became more noticeable again, rising swiftly toward unbearable.

She paced at first, wondering why he had insisted she be brought here. She had failed him. He had given her an instruction and she had been unable to comply, but that would be little mitigation in her favour. Yet, if he had wanted to punish her, why did he not do so there, and make an example of her to the others.

It was not long, however, before her energy began to fail, the ability to stand becoming harder as the pains became intense once more. She barely made it to the corner of the room; to slide down to the floor, where she finally gave voice to her utter desolation.

**

The journey through the Hive had been at breakneck speed, the Hive Second's grasp around her wrist as they went aching more and more with each passing moment. Vega was sure she would bruise. All through the Hive he had practically dragged her, and she could do nothing but hurry to keep up, almost having to run to match his long strides until they had finally reached the door to Todd's laboratory.

_He pushed her into the room with a flick of his arm and stood in the doorway, a solid presence; as though he worried she would try to run out again._

_"You will remain here," he said quietly, his tri-tonal voice pushing the command onto her._

_"But," she said, feeling utterly humiliated by the entire ordeal, "th— our Queen."_

_"If the Queen has need of you, you will be summoned," he said, his voice sounded overly patient, adding to the impression that Vega got that he was patronising her. "In the meantime, for your own good, you will remain here."_

_"My own good?" She frowned and could not keep the irritation from the tone of her voice._

_He stepped out of the doorway, walking toward her and she backed up quickly, until she got herself caught on the corner of the bench, pinned in place by the presence of his body in front of hers. She could feel the anger bristling in him as he leaned down over her, bending her backwards. He took in a long deep breath as he loomed over her. She whimpered._

_"Yes, little Human, for your own good you will stay here and wait for your master," he snarled, lifting his feeding hand, and running it almost lightly over the smears of Isla's blood that stained her arm; trailed the touch over her shoulder toward her neck until she turned her head away with another whimper as she felt it descend again to barely touch against her sternum._

_"Don't…" she whispered fearfully._

Vega pressed her hand against her chest, and finally dared to move away from where she had curled into a ball once he'd left, as abruptly as a summer storm. She stood for a moment watching the now locked door.

"Afraid?" The voice came from behind her, in one of the alcoves.

"He… I…" Vega started, answering without realising the fuel she was giving to the hybrid. "I was supposed to go to him if there was trouble. Todd said—"

"He tells you a lot of things, but never enough," the hybrid said, not without a mocking tone in his voice.

Vega turned away from the door, though kept the bench behind her until she was level with the alcove in which the hybrid was confined, "What's that supposed to mean?"

The hybrid shrugged. "How much about the Hive has he explained to you, I mean, really?"

"About the Hive?" Vega frowned, confused.

"Yes," the hybrid spread his arms, "this place. Short of telling you the dos and don'ts as far as the Queen is concerned, what has he actually told you? What has he done for you at all?"

"You mean apart from save my life, and keep me safe in this god-forsaken place?" Vega spat, she knew the hybrid's words were meant to sow seeds of doubt inside her.

"He did that all for himself," the hybrid countered. "You were just a secondary consideration."

"No. You're wrong, you—"

"He's as self-serving as _any_ Wraith," the hybrid interrupted.

"You're wrong," Vega said, "And you know you are! If not you'd be as... as… dead and melted as those others of your kind that Michael sent here."

"So sure."

"I know you made some kind of deal with Todd to keep yourself safe," Vega said accusingly. "Now who's self-serving?"

"_I_ never denied it," the hybrid said.

"I don't have to listen to this!" Vega snapped, and coming away from the bench she approached the controls, trying to remember which of the controls would turn the doorway to a solid, opaque barrier between them.

"You can shut me out," the hybrid told her, "but you can't keep the truth out forever."

"You… wouldn't know the truth if it leaped up and bit your ass!" Vega said, and keyed the control, shutting out the hybrid.

**

Todd accepted the equipment that the drone brought to him and dismissed him without a word, returning only moments later to Sheppard's side.

The Lantean was curled on his side on the cot, McKay crouching at his side, trying to talk to him, keep him lucid, Todd supposed, since the pain must have been great.

Without waiting for invitation and ignoring protests from both Sheppard himself and McKay, Todd quickly drew a sample of Sheppard's blood.

"Maybe," Sheppard gasped as he did so, "it's time to send for Jennifer now."

"Have no fear, Sheppard," Todd said, "I will be sure that Doctor Keller sees what is necessary to bring you relief from your affliction."

"Affliction!" McKay answered, raising his voice. Todd breathed out a long slow sigh as the Human scientist went on. "Michael _did_ this to him!"

"Indeed," Todd purred, slipping a prepared slide into the side of his Wraith tablet, and looking at the magnified results.

As he did he tilted his head to one side, puzzled as he did not see all that he had expected to see. The specific strand of the retroviral DNA that he expected was not quite as he had seen in the hybrids he had recently used as test subjects while on the Elder Hive. He let out a quiet growling 'hmmm' as he studied it.

"What?" McKay said, almost sounding panicked, "What is it? You can fix it, right? You can—"

"Doctor McKay," Todd interrupted, looking up from the Wraith tablet. "You have my word that I will do everything I can to find a way to reverse the effect of this retrovirus—"

"Well that's good to hear," Sheppard put in, making a sour expression.

"—however… it may take some time," Todd said, "until we are ready to administer a cure."

"So what now?" McKay asked, obviously worrying for Sheppard's pain. "You can't just leave him like this!"

Todd had to admit the physiological effects of pain on the Human nervous system did seem to be particularly detrimental, sometimes even hazardous to their survival, and above all of its other effects, this version of the retrovirus that Sheppard had been given did seem to be particularly formulated to cause as much pain as possible.

"In the meantime, Doctor McKay," Todd purred, "I will find something to relieve Sheppard's pain."

**

The Hive Second took in another deep breath to try and calm his racing heart as he lowered himself to one knee in the centre of the Queen's chamber. He, like the Commander at his side, kept his eyes downcast, knowing where the Queen walked only by sound, and by the strength with which he scented her as she came closer to the two of them.

He felt the press of her irritated enquiry concerning the altercation in the Lower Station, among the worshippers; the involvement of her handmaiden, and his own intercession, apparently on her behalf.

_{the situation also involved my… body servant, my Queen}_

_=concubine= =concubine= =concubine=_

The Hive Second let out a long slow breath. It was true that on a number of occasions, though that number was few, he had used his servant in that way, but… it was not her role, not specifically.

_=and my handmaiden?= =my handmaiden= =handmaiden=_

_{is well, my Queen. She awaits the return of your scientist. It is for him to discipline his concubine, not I}_

_=his, not mine?= =not mine?= =mine?=_

The pressure of the Queen's mind in his own increased momentarily in order that she brought his gaze up from the floor of her chamber to meet the steely cold anger in her eyes in that moment.

_{no, my Queen, for she has not wronged you} {not wronged you} {not you}_

She tilted her head, her curiosity surrounding him as she stepped closer. He took a breath, forced himself to stillness.

_{she sought to defend your pleasure, those that might… tend your needs come the future} {come the future} {the future}_

She reached out to him then, to run the back of her fingers down the right hand side of his face, blades curled toward her own wrist. He could not help but let out the long slow growling hiss that bubbled up inside of him both at her nearness and her touch that scalded the side of his face were she barely grazed him, skin to skin, nor could he help that his head tilted in primal response to her.

_=show me= =show me= show me=_

**

On hearing the growl from his Second, the Hive Commander risked lifting his eyes from the floor of the Queen's chamber and glanced across the short distance between them. When he did anger flared and burned through every part of him.

His Queen, _his_ Queen was stalking around his Second, her hand trailing over the right side of his face as she leaned down from behind him to lay her cheek alongside his, as she hissed a soft breath against him.

"My Queen," he began, impolitic at best, unforgivable if she so chose, and yet his anger drove him to draw her attention away from the lesser Wraith. Her head snapped around to bring her angry gaze to him.

"Silence!"

_=silence= =silence= =silence=_

"How dare you interrupt," she snarled as she stalked away from the Hive Second, approaching the Commander. "Particularly when you ignored my warning and still sought to challenge my scientist!"

His face fell from the frown into a scowl and he turned his head sharply to look at his Second.

"He has nothing to do with this!" the Queen snapped. "Do you truly think I have no idea what occurs aboard _my_ Hive?"

"My Queen, forgive me, I—"

"Forgiveness must be _earned,_ in this you must see you erred, _Commander_!" the Queen sneered, leaning down to pin him in place with her eyes. "If and when I want him removing I will do so my_self_!"

He lowered his eyes again, feeling the painful thrust of her mind into his, seeking the truth of their argument, their fight. As quickly as he could he shored up the memory, his feelings toward that one and everything concerning him behind flimsy defences that would not hold for longer than a moment.

"Of course, my Queen," he said, pushing contrition back along the mental link that was the battering ram within his mind, weakening her assault, wrapping her with the emotion he knew she wanted from him. "I acted beyond my rights, it will not happen again."

"No, it will not," she told him, only in part accepting his apology. "Take us to hyperspace, Commander. You have the coordinates of our rendezvous. Leave us."

She jerked her head toward the door, but had already dismissed him, turning slightly, her head tilted as she returned across the short distance to stand before the Hive Second. Every part of him burned with the humiliation of his dismissal.

**

The Queen's treatment of the Hive Commander did not bode well for the ease of his continued service as Second on this Hive and yet, he could not move on, nor could he act to relieve the Queen of such an ineffectual Wraith as her consort. Too many tangled strands of scheme upon scheme existed here, and until he was confident in the knowledge of them all he could not, _would not _act.

"It is almost time," the Queen purred as she reached him, "for The Abomination to receive the next dose of my scientist's serum. You will see to it."

He lowered his head in a respectful nod as acceptance of her command, then raised his face, his eyes meeting hers again as she barely touched the underside of his chin with her blade tipped fingers.

"My Queen?" he queried, speaking aloud for the first time.

"Then… I have another task that I demand of you, Commander," she purred.

_=demand of you= =of you= =you=_

The Second hissed out a long, slow breath as her words, and the sensations of her command wrapped themselves around his mind, his body – all of him humming with the contact. He opened himself to the rapid succession of thoughts and images… sensations and emotions, fighting with himself not to respond to everything there and then; to maintain control against the ache in his entire being.

_{it… shall be as you command, my Queen} {as you command, my Queen} {my Queen}_

**

The faint half light of a dreamed sunlit morning began to fade toward the dim interior of the Hive ship that hummed beneath her with the rhythm of the hyperspace engines. Jennifer Keller stretched, languorously, a heavy though not unpleasant lethargy weighing her limbs.

She felt swollen, sensitive and pressed her limbs together to feel the tingling of delicious sensation spread through her at the action.

…_peaked desire… …the touch of too skilled fingers…_

She woke with a gasp as the warmth of the dream faded and realisation of the reality of where she was, _how_ she was, possessed her fully. She started to sit up, scooting upward toward the pillow as though she could escape herself, but the feelings and sensations followed her, as did the raw ache she had begun to feel.

"Oh God," she breathed, and ran her fingers through her tangled hair, catching the scratches that ran the length of the inside of her arm from the corner of her eye. Her peripheral vision screamed accusation at her awareness, and she trembled in answer, snatching in breaths as she remembered.

…_she reached behind her to run her fingers through his hair. His own fingers followed, scraping… …to tease the sensitive of the inside of her arm from her bicep all the way to her wrist…_

She could not stifle the moan that escaped her lips, and ran the fingers of her other hand along the welts on the inside of her arm, wincing as she came to the bite mark at her wrist. She wanted to deny the truth, but could not. She had reached, and he responded.

She threw back the blanket that still covered her, and almost sobbed as the extent of the truth surrounded her, like the strongly male scent that possessed her in a second skin.

…_heat flooded into her… The momentary sweet pain broke the fragile string of tension holding back her own…_

She needed to bathe, to free herself of it, of all of it, and finding her feet, the simple act of standing, of moving sending deep, sharp pains through her at the movement of her limbs, she began to stumble to the bathroom… once there to throw herself on aching arms – her shoulders screaming protest – to her hands and knees to key the control that activated the many jets of water to fill the sunken tub.

…_her already trembling arms refused to hold her, and she fell forward…_

Memory and sensation flooded her as the bath tub filled, as if she were reflected in the water. How could this have been? What had she done? Turning off the jets she slipped into the water, hissing as the heat of it stung against the bruises and the scratches on her thighs.

Ineffectually she began to scrub at the bruises, at the scratches, opening them to the cleansing heat of the water as the burn of tears washed her eyes. She could not accept this; would never have been the one to begin all of this. She had been tricked… manoeuvred into place. It was _him._

Everything she had been feeling since she came aboard this god-forsaken Hive had brought her to this…

_"Why not admit it?" he asked, his lips brushing against her neck as he spoke, "You are at least… curious…"_

_"But I… you…" She moaned, and could not help but shift against him as his other hand left the surface of the bench to wrap around her, to come to rest low on her belly, over the fluttering she felt there, and skimmed lower still._

_"We are not so different… Jennifer…"_

**

The Hive Second closed and locked the door to his quarters with a sigh, and interfacing silently with the semi-sentient awareness of the Hive, brought up the light to a comfortable level for his sensitive Wraith eyes.

He tilted his head, remaining where he was in front of the door, sensing and scenting the air. Blood and death hung heavy in the room. Slowly he turned his head from side to side, listening with the intensity only his kind could muster, and caught the sounds of shallow, slow breathing from one still-dark corner of his quarters and reaching out he sensed her sorrow – her fear.

Throwing off his heavy leather coat he approached, and quickly came to one knee at her side, where she was slumped, in her tenacity barely holding on to consciousness, against the corner of the bulkhead wall. He turned her onto her back, supporting the back of her neck, her head as one would do a newborn, as he laid her against the deck.

"No," she murmured, rousing slightly to clutch at him with a bloodstained hand, "Show me the stars one last time, my Lord."

He could not help but glance up to the viewing port that she, as she had been wedged into the corner, had been facing. They could not see the outside of the Hive from the Lower Station, and her love for star light had amused him from time to time, enough for him to tease.

"Not now, Isla," he said, the two tones in his voice merging almost to one in their soft resonance and though he knew the cause of her peril, still he ran his hands over her slight form in examination, thorough to check that she had not been further injured in the fight. His hands came away from her abdomen and thighs cold and sticky with her blood.

"Lord…?" she whispered, as though she did not have the breath to speak, yet tried anyway.

"Now is time to live," he told her, and slipping one hand behind her head again, he brought his feeding hand down heavy against her chest.

His eyes closed, and his head tilted back, releasing the growl from deep inside his chest, and her back arched in _his_ pain, trembling as he pushed his life, and healing, into her frail and failing form.

_The call had been an urgent, desperately crushing ache that had reverberated across the many light years, mind to mind. The image that brought him to his knees one he had hoped he would never see._

_After… bastard sword in hand, its serrations feasting on the blood of traitors as he fought his way across the Wastes to the Mound, acid searing his lungs with each laboured breath, he reached the defensive line of those that had reached the innermost heart of the Wraith._

_Fury, as cold and searing as the planet's atmosphere, possessed him, slowing his actions as he moved from side to side, weaving between the searing blue tongues of the staff stunners the enemy turned his way. He reached the first and swung his heavy blade low against the attacking Wraith's torso, drawing back almost as soon as the sword connected the first of them, all but ripping the drone in two._

_Turning full circle he thrust the blade, point first into the heart of another, grabbing the arm of the third, to pull it close enough that he could smash his head against the bone covering of its face. The bone split in two, exposing the twisted, malformed face beneath to the harsh acidity in the air. The drone fell back, clutching at its sensitive eyes, but not before he had punched forward, his hand finding the pressure switch at its breast._

_He turned his attention to freeing his blade from the corpse in which it was lodged. Every sense screamed danger upon him, and pulling it free he angled it backwards across his neck and shoulders, in time to catch the ringing blow from the sub-commander at his back. Spinning in a half crouch – counting under his breath but keeping the thought from his mind – he caught the secondary attack as the Wraith struck out toward his chest, lifting the smaller faced Wraith and turning to slam him to the ground, just as the explosion reverberated through the air._

_The force of the shockwave drove him down atop the sub-commander, in spite of shielding himself from the blast. Not an opportunity to be missed, he reached out and grabbed the fallen Wraith by the chin – twisted – and fell to the side, breathing hard as he pulled out the small hand-knife, before bunching muscles brought him to his feet again. The entryway clear at last._

_Boots crunched on the spongy matter as he made his next assay. Her distress was sharp in his mind; almost a physical pain, and he staggered, his hand, bloodied, supporting him against the wall of the Pool Chamber, watching as the foreign commander dragged his Queen from the waters that already ran red with her blood. His fury sharpened again, sweeping away his pain and he reached out with the vice of his mind even as his steps brought him to within arms' length of the traitor – unsuspecting._

Her hand, like ice against his neck, pulled him back from the depths of his delirium, and he gasped, snatching his hand away from her and leaned his head heavily against the bulkhead until he caught his breath; opened his eyes to see her, trembling, in shock, yet breathing more deeply; further from death.

The momentary lapse forgotten, he climbed to his feet and made his way to the bathroom, knowing he must warm her or his travails would have been for nothing; wasted, and he did so hate waste. Once the tub had filled, he returned to her side, kneeling down to lift her into his arms, to carry her and lower her into the gentle waters.

_The cry of the newborn echoed in the caverns, a chilling contrast to the rasping, laboured breath of the Matriarch as he carried her, almost tenderly in his arms, deeper into the pool. She lay unresponsive against him. The one last chance he had been given by the hybrid woman, now lying as a sheen of dust at the waterside._

_Sinking to his knees, he shifted his Queen in his arms, keeping her head above the water as he pressed his feeding hand against the faint beat of her heart, he would drain himself entirely if he had to…_

"Why are you doing this?" Isla asked softly as he pulled the ruined dress from her form, and reached for the soft natural sponge with which to wash away the evidence of her distress.

"You serve me well, Isla," he told her, "and I caused this. It is only right that I give you succour."

"But I—"

"Hush now," he instructed. "Do not speak again, until we are done."

She fell silent as he knew she would, her eyes closed, her breathing laboured still. Under his fingers he could feel the terrible cramping of her internal muscles as her body sought to rid itself of what lay dead within. So fragile – Human life – and yet so pivotal in all endeavours.

She whimpered, and he looked at her face, wet with mingled tears and the sweat of her pains. He tilted his head, curious as to the reason for the tears. Surely not shed in sorry for the life she had briefly carried, conceived, he knew in an act of Human violence.

He growled softly, and she whimpered again, almost pulling away from him where he supported her in the deep, warm water.

"Forgive me," she whispered.

Ignoring that she had disobeyed his instruction to remain silent, he tightened his hold on her, reaching for a large soft cloth in which to wrap her, and lifted her from the water.

"The only fault I can find with your actions is your timing, Isla. Let it go, and obey me now," he said firmly, drawing her close against his chest as he carried her over to the bed, still wrapped in the drying cloth, and set her down carefully. "Rest. I will bring you something for your pain."

As he started to rise she caught his wrist, and he looked down at her, as she opened her eyes. He could see the pain seated there, deep and sharp, but still the reflected devotion; adoration.

In a rare and gentle moment he laid his hand against the side of her face, caressed her cheek.

"Thank you, Isla," he intoned, and she turned her head to kiss the centre of his aching palm.

Standing, he slipped his hand from her cheek and even as he crossed the room to his personal supply of salves and medicines, he started to strip off his shirt, soaked as it was, and tossed it into the container at the side of the room and quickly locating the substance he needed, mixed the paste with an intoxicating liquor into a small bowl which he carried back to the bed.

It was a poison to Humans, and he would have to neutralise it before allowing Isla to take even the small dose he had prepared.

He sat down on the bed beside her and took her into a light embrace. She stirred and moaned softly, reaching to grip his skin with a hand that trembled. He quickly took the small dose of the drug he had prepared into his mouth, holding it there for a time, then cupping her cheek once more in his hands, brought her lips to meet with his, nipping at the lower of hers. Her fingers tightened against his arm and her moan shifted to another cadence entirely as she responded to the beginning of his almost-kiss. Carefully, controlled, he allowed the exchange of fluid between them.

Bringing his lips away from hers, he breathed out a long, slow breath… his own tiredness beginning to catch up with him as the residual effects of the drug slowed his own system. He set his servant back down to rest as her breathing slowed, and her face eased with the signs of the pain receding.

She would remain here until it was done, he decided. No sense in sending her from him when she was still vulnerable. It would mean a waste of his time, his effort to heal. He stood and finished undressing to slip himself into the bed at her side. He did not reject her when, in her sleep, she turned to rest against him.

**

Keller's skin puckered with gooseflesh as she stepped through the laboratory door and saw the all too familiar, black clad Wraith already at work. She saw him straighten slightly as she entered, but he neither turned, nor acknowledged her presence otherwise.

Everything she remembered, everything she felt, all came together into an incredible outburst of emotion.

"You fucking bastard!" she spat.

He turned slowly, still not speaking, merely tilted his head slightly, his eyes boring into her. A shiver went through her. She felt hot tears gathering behind her eyes and a sick feeling began in the pit of her stomach. When, after a moment, he still had not spoken, she started to cross the lab toward him. How _dare_ he!

"You fucking bastard!" she said, louder this time, her voice thick as emotion constricted her throat.

He still made no acknowledgement of the anger; of _anything_ concerning her emotion. His face remained impassive, his eyes hard, unyielding – Wraith. Tears burned against her cheek, her throat was raw, and the closer she got, the more her breath became difficult to catch.

"You. Fucking." She collided with him, her sides of her raised hands beat once against his chest, completely ineffectual. She raised her hand further, drawing it back before letting it fly toward the side of his face as she cried, "BASTARD!"

Even before she got close to hitting him, his hand lashed out and caught her wrist, and turning them both he pushed her toward the workbench, twisting her arm behind her to keep her in place.

She yelped at the sudden movement, the air coming out of her as the weight of him settled behind her, pressing her forward, her belly against the bench as he leaned down to nip lightly at the side of her neck.

"You will not raise your hand to me again," he told her, his voice an uncompromising growl beside her ear, his breath hot against her cheek.

She whimpered, feeling her stomach twisting with the flurry of butterflies inside of her, her breath starting to come in little snatches as he purred against her.

"My dear… little Jennifer… Make no mistake…"

_~mistake~ ~mistake~ ~mistake~_

"Please," she moaned, the way he spoke to her, the way he called her… _Little Jennifer,_ "Please… I…!"

The press of his mind within hers was almost suffocating, but as he nipped at her neck… as the hand that had once held her wrist moved against the side of her breast, slipped between her body and the bench as it slid lower, she moaned at the touch, her whole body trembling, and she opened to the contact.

_At the press of his touch against her, gliding in the wetness she had made of her desires for him, Keller made a breathy call of his name and turned her head to catch the side of his neck in the press of her teeth._

_He growled at her and lifting her against him invaded her with his touch, pressing as deeply into her as he could reach._

He let out a long, low growl against her shoulder, and she shivered feeling herself flooding for him again and let out another needful sound as she pressed back against him.

"You are mine."

_~mine~ ~mine~ ~mine~_

"No," she whispered, belying her actions. "Please, Todd, I…"

"Oh come now, my little Jennifer," he purred, lifting his touch away from her body and starting to straighten, move away. "I do not remember such protests before you… slept."

She did not move, but gripped the bench in front of her, not trusting her trembling knees to support her. She whimpered at the tone in his voice, and the way the butterflies in her stomach ignited from it.

"There are matters I must attend to," he told her, and she realised that he was already part way across the laboratory. "I will return later and we can continue our… research."

Not until she heard the doors open and close behind the Wraith did she allow herself to release the death grip on the bench that held her upright, using what strength she had to turn so that her back was against its solid surface as she crumpled into a sodden heap at the base of it. She put her head in her hands, and unable to deny the desire that was coursing through her, Keller finally let her tears fall.

**

"Why am I confined here," the young Queen demanded of him the moment he stepped foot inside her chambers. "If this is my Hive, why do those drones keep me trapped inside these chambers like some kind of prisoner?"

"It would be a weakness in any commander to allow his queen to roam an unfamiliar Hive before she had learned her place." Todd bristled at her arrogance, but kept his tone as neutral as he could, phrasing his answer in the third person so as to be less personal.

It did not appease the young queen. Obviously already angry at her treatment, her temper erupted as she clearly realised his gambit.

"Learned her— Learn my place!" she roared. "My place is to be Queen of this Hive!"

"And what, _my Queen_, did your Guardian name as the duties you would have, as Queen of a Hive?" Todd asked, his voice dripping sarcasm, but otherwise keeping his considerable irritation under control. "The duties of _any_ queen?"

"Duties?" she echoed imperiously, and though she continued in an effort to sound strong, her voice held a clear note of uncertainty. "I will _command_ this Hive as its Queen!"

Todd took a step toward her, growling softly, and she retreated in the face of his strength. "The primary duty of any queen is to secure the protection and future of those she serves."

"Serves?" The young queen snorted, and in her nervous arrogance began to turn away. Todd's patience snapped, and moving quicker than she, he reached out and grabbed a handful of her hair, and even as she gasped her protest all but dragged her toward the dais; tossed her into the queen's throne that seemed, more than ever too big for the creature that occupied it.

"Make no mistake," Todd snarled and leaned over her, his voice rising in anger, "As Queen you will serve those you would rule as surely as if they commanded you. You will _earn_ their respect; their adoration."

She shrank from him, pressing against the back of the throne as if to get away, and though a part of him was pleased that she seemed to understand the power he wielded over her, he could not stand to see her weakness.

"And do not _cower_ like some wounded _animal_!" he rumbled angrily in his disgust.

He straightened then, moving away from her, allowing her to sit up, pressing his mind in hers until she regained her composure, and regarded him with quiet acquiescence.

"I… value your guidance, my Commander," she told him.

"Better," he purred, "and when matters are more settled…"

When he had the more complete control over this volatile young Queen… when Sheppard and McKay ceased to be a troubling influence in his thoughts… and Keller – when he could be more secure in the truth of his findings...

"…then I will convey you to the bridge and other key areas of… your Hive."

**

Keller shivered, and looked up from the DNA sample she was carefully dissecting. She could not help flinching away as the black clad arm reached across, close to her to pick up a new slide from the pile in front of her, pausing at her movement.

She could feel his eyes burning into the side of her face, and her insides turned somersaults in response, shortening her breath and leaving her slightly dizzy until she had no choice but to turn her head enough that she could see him.

"Is something wrong… Jennifer?" Todd asked, purring the words softly into the space between them. "Something with which I can assist you?"

"No," she said, her voice cracking on the single word, "I'm fine; almost done with this sample. We can—"

"May I?" he enquired softly, and moved closer still, slightly behind her so as to bring himself level with the powerful microscope.

_He moved closer, the solid length of his body pressed against hers, behind her, the unyielding workbench in front. The press of his hand lowered the test tube she was clutching to the stand, and then scraped across the backs of her fingers, while he leaned closer still to her neck, his breath travelling over her already enlivened skin as he spoke._

_"Why not admit it?" he asked, his lips brushing against her neck as he spoke, "You are at least… curious…"_

She quickly sidestepped, turning sideways on to the bench to watch him, swallowing hard as he leaned his tall frame forward slightly to look into the eyepieces, long fingers moving over the computer interface to adjust the focus. Taking another step back, she tried to concentrate on the science in front of them; to banish the swirling agitation that gripped her.

"You," she cleared her throat, "you see the nucleotides on the longer fragment of DNA?"

"Indeed," Todd said, and she could tell from the tone that he was already one step ahead of her explanation. "Separated from their parallel nucleotides on the transverse of the spiral by the RNA of the Hoffan Protein."

"And that's why it appears random," Keller said, taking a step forward again, as the talk of the science momentarily banished other thoughts. "But again, if you take a look at—"

She reached out, meaning to change the slide at which he was looking for another that she had prepared the day before.

"Wait," he caught her wrist, and she gasped…

_He caught her hand, and coming away from her, his kisses climbing over the path they had just taken in reverse he brought her fingers to the ridged length of him._

…pulled away from his touch as it burned through her skin to heat her blood – sent the blush of it to her pale cheeks.

Tears pricked behind her eyes. She hated that betrayal her body wrought. How could she even entertain thoughts of the sensations that she could not deny were a part of her as much now as they had been before.

Her stomach began to churn in self loathing, nausea creeping up from the tingling in her centre to suddenly grip her, hard, and leave her reeling – reaching for the bench in front of her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sounding a little faint even to her own ears. "What did I do?"

**

"There," he said, drawing her between him and the microscope, leaving his hand beneath her elbow in support, as he felt her tremble. "Do you see it?"

As she bent her eyes to the eyepieces, revealing the nape of her neck as her hair fell to either side of her bowed head he took a deep breath. He could sense her confusion, and yet, the physical changes in her were not difficult to detect, as the scent of her poured in through his sensory pits, over the taste buds at the back of his tongue. He withheld his amused chuckle.

"Todd, I don't—" she started, and he reached past her to key the control that sent the view from the microscope to the larger display in front of them.

"Look," he told her, using the touch of hand in hair to lift her head away from the microscope; bring her eyes to the screen even as he leaned down to guide her gaze in the appropriate direction.

"I still—" she tried to step forward, but there was nowhere to go as he purred against her cheek.

"The transverse RNA, you see it?" he asked.

"Double stranded," she whispered, and even though still highly agitated by his closeness, he could tell that she understood the importance of the find.

"We must take apart this RNA, piece by piece, Jennifer," he purred into her hair. "I do believe you may have found the key."

**

His slow, measured steps brought him closer to the wreck that the serum in his hands had made of the once proud, intelligent, Wraith scientist. For long moments he stood, head tilted to one side, looking down on the creature now restrained on the bio-genetic bed. Slowly the creature turned his yellow eyes toward the Hive Second, but he did not speak.

The worshipper, her eyes downcast before her Wraith master, stood tense. He sensed her growing fear, it leaked from her to infest the air around her with its pungent odour. Without even trying the Second could almost read the thoughts gathering in her head; read the awe, the terror with which their lack of action filled her.

With deliberate and precise movements, his eyes never leaving those of the ruined scientist, the Hive Second raised the syringe in his hand.

"So," the creature rasped softly, "he has sent you to do his dirty work this time." For a moment his eyes left the Hive Second's to glance first one way and then the other before he continued with heavy sarcasm, "What? No sub-commander; no attempt to force… another death… onto my _conscience_?"

"I have often wondered why, knowing as you did – as you do – the truth of our phylogeny, you still allowed her to send you away," the Hive Second said, looking down to the serum in the syringe.

"Or perhaps, unlike the other, you realise I do not need their Gift to withstand the blasphemy you hold; do not care for the Queen's command."

"You… saw something that I did not," The Second mused, half to himself. "Something that led you to follow her command even though you knew it was the wrong thing to do."

"As you do now," the scientist said.

"Tell me something," The Hive Second sighed on the edges of the words, "why did you return here? For what purpose?"

**

Michael growled softly. The Hive Second was fishing. He could not possibly know any of what he had said. He did not dignify the question with an answer. Instead he took several deep breaths, preparing himself for the pain he knew was to come. He did not remember the Hive Second for his patience.

"No answer?" the Hive Second asked again after a few moments more of the silence that now caused the worshipper that stood at Michael's shoulder to back away. "Perhaps it is true then, that you grew… careless and were captured by the other."

The Second shrugged then, and began to move the syringe toward his arm. Michael took another breath, bracing himself.

"A pity," the Hive Second said, pausing again. "Not at all worthy of the Wraith I remember you to have been."

"You remember _nothing,_" Michael spat, hatred and contempt colouring his voice, "and know even less."

_He turned as he sensed the additional presence in the Queen's private chambers, completing fastening his belt as he did. The appearance of the Hive Second did not alarm him. It had been he that the scientist had summoned after all._

_Even when the Second's eyes narrowed and Michael felt the press of that one's mind in his, he remained calm, and pocketed the small bottle of deep purple fluid, making no attempt to hide it from the Second's eyes._

_"No," he answered the unspoken communication. "I was the one that summoned you. There will be no new queen from this union, but __**she **__will have needs. You will see to them."_

_Neither did he possess qualms at giving orders to one technically his superior in the Hive hierarchy. He glanced behind him to the prone form of the Queen, still breathless and semi-conscious on the soft pillows of her sunken bed to clarify who it was to which he referred._

_"The Hive Commander—" the Second began, his physical voice carrying no reprimand._

_"The Hive Commander is an ineffectual fool. I know this, as do you," the Queen's Scientist Consort replied. "Do not trouble me with threats of his reprisals. By the time he comes to know that another has taken his bitch from him, I will be long gone from here. I doubt I shall ever return."_

The memory surfaced from nowhere, and Michael knew that the Hive Second had brought it forth in him.

"I also know," the Second continued, "what it is you found on the outer world, to which you gave the Queen's Scientist coordinates. A curiosity at first, but one we quickly came to realise was as dangerous to us as they were vital to our survival."

"We?" Michael asked, hiding his interest behind sarcasm again. "You speak for the entire race of Wraith now?"

Even _he_ could not help but flinch when the Second leaned down, his arms either side of Michael's head and growling in warning, said, "Sarcasm will not help your cause, Scientist."

For barely a second, a burst of hope almost flared inside of Michael. Could this one be trying to come to him as an ally? Could it be true that he was remembered from the time before? Then Michael growled again. He could not afford to allow himself the luxury of hope; to let down his guard for even a moment would be more suicidal than the actions he had already risked.

"And I suppose you can," Michael snarled. "Spare me! Either he, or the bitch you serve sent you to try with a fresh face and a gentler gambit to make me speak, cooperate… buckle to her will."

"Believe as you will," the Second said and Michael thought he detected a note of sorrow in the triple tones the Hive Second used in speaking to him as he added, "Die as you must, for you are of little use to the Matriarch now."

"Matria—?"

Agony, intense and burning stole the question from Michael's lips and mind as the Hive Second shifted a hand to bring the syringe he carried to meet with Michael's vein and mercilessly pushed the serum into his system. Michael couldn't hold the terrible cry that tore from his throat as the action of the retrovirus further ripped apart the shreds of his DNA, to rebuild each twisted spiral in the image of Wraith.

**

The Hive Second watched with dispassionate interest as the former Wraith – former Hybrid – arched his back and gave cry after cry until even the Second could almost feel the ragged tatters that must be all that remained of the creature's throat.

As the throws of the prisoner's torment began to subside, the Hive Second leaned down once more to look into his face, into the distress and pain still in his narrowed, Wraith eyes.

"Know this, Scientist," he growled softly, "if your continued obstinacy further threatens the balance of this Hive, there will be no pain that you have experienced that will come close to the reward I will show you."

**

Hanna gave a short cry as she bit her tongue when her Commander threw her to the bulkhead wall, the back of her head connecting with its chitinous surface. Flashes of light drifted before her eyes as she continued to fumble with the fastenings on her dress, even as the Commander came on her, the back of his hand striking hard against her cheek, before taking both of her narrow wrists into one large hand and pinning her in place, her hand held high over her head. She could already feel the bruises forming.

His other hand raked the front of her, rending fabric and tearing the skin in a line along the middle of her body, exposing her to his angry sexual hunger.

"My Lord," she gasped, "Commander—"

The sharpness of his bite against her breast brought another wordless cry to her lips, inarticulate against the deafness of his frustration, as he released her wrists, but grasped instead at her hips to keep her in place, and trembling, her hands reached for the fastening on the leather waistband of his pants, knowing that to delay would mean more of the same. Releasing him, she began to run her hands over him, teasing at the ridges, her fingers played at the glans; hoped to heighten his desire and lessen the violent, murderous rage that coursed through him.

Instead he slapped her hand away, tearing her wrist with his finger guards, and spun her in place, and grapping a handful of her hair to pull her head back, exposing the soft side of her neck to the sharpness of his teeth. He bit hard, and she cried out, but pressed back against him as the first trickle of blood ran from the juncture of her neck and shoulder, afraid to resist, and in part, aroused by the pain of his bite.

"Mine," he snarled, as he lifted his head from her neck to breathe hotly against the side of her face. "She is _mine_."

On his words he lifted her, and with the sure, possessive touch of his hand at her centre, spread her open to him enough that he could sink deep inside her.

With a breathless exclamation, Hanna threw her head back against him, struggling to free herself, but only allowing him to press her closer against the bulkhead as he began to move with consuming, long and savage thrusts into her narrow body.

**

As she strove to free herself, his arousal grew to match his fury. It was not enough… never enough and tearing himself free, he all but threw the Human woman to his bed, following to pin her once more beneath him, her belly against the cushions.

He grabbed her hips with his sharp claws, and loving the feel of them sinking into her soft flesh, pushed his knees between hers, opening her to the questing touch of his fingers, to pinch and kneed at her until she began to flow for him… until he could scent the Human's desire that he sought to take for his own.

Pressing closer, removing the touch of his fingers, save to guide himself within, he thrust against her, and sheathed himself in her with a snarling roar of pleasure.

**

Her cry became lost in his snarling, her breathlessness unheeded as he pounded into her, still from behind, still with the rough abandon of his unsated frustration. Her thighs ached, and her shoulders screamed protest as he lay his weight on her, sinking deeper still. She felt him open inside of her as the rhythm of his possession changed, and clutched at the bed frame with splintering fingernails as the near agony of it triggered her body into a deep, dark climax that pulsed around him, until he too released, a flood inside of her, as scalding as his anger.

Even then, Hanna knew he was not done with her.

**

Michael barely raised himself to consciousness again, enough to see that the worshipper trembled as she approached the bio-genetic bed.

"Please, please… hear me," she said. "You _must_ feed, you… the Queen—"

"Free me," he gasped, hardly above a whisper, still wracked with the pain of his transformations. Much more and he would lose himself – worse than death, to submit to the urges and instincts he could feel growing inside of him.

The worshipper gasped, a frightened, yet excited exclamation as she snatched her hand away from the switch; as the restraints began to withdraw from around his wrists and ankles.

As soon as he could move, Michael arched his aching back, pushing with his elbows and shoulders to try and bring himself to sitting. As he struggled, the worshipper began to step forward again. She reached for him.

"No!" Michael relished the pain from his hand as he gripped the side of the bed to steady himself until the room ceased enough in its wild spinning for him to make sense of anything. Still the worshipper reached for him, and he waved her away with his left hand, keeping his right firmly pressed to the bio-genetic bed on which he sat. "Don't… touch me."

Slowly he looked first one way, then the other, orienting himself, gathering together the twisted wreckage of his memories of this place, this Laboratory that used to hold so much interest for him, so much promise.

"How," the worshipper's voice trembled as she addressed him, "…shall I call you – Lord?"

_She gripped his arm where it was wrapped around her, suddenly, breathless. "What is your na— How do I call you?"_

_"You do not. There is nothing you __**can**__ call me. You lack the capacity."_

"Don't _call_ me that," Michael snarled, thrusting the memory away as he all but fell to his knees as his feet touched the floor of the Hive. With everything he was he forced himself to stand taller. "I'm no _Wraith_!"

"But you—" she stepped forward again.

"NO!" he roared, and pulled back his open and dripping feeding hand, mantling in spite of his utter hatred of the need that was all but crippling him. His vision swam and every cell in his body burned with need. Trembling with the effort of holding back; breathing hard he sought to move, to take a step.

The worshipper sighed; a trembling, almost rapturous sigh, and reached up to her shirt, to open the neck, to hold the fabric away from her pale, tempting flesh.

Michael snarled, and threw back his head as his feeding hand flashed forward.

**

"Jennifer," McKay's voice was breathy and saturated with his relief as Keller walked into the quarters that Todd had assigned to her friends.

"I'm all right," she said, holding up her hands to fend him off. "I'm fine."

"Keller," Sheppard said, and from his tone she could tell that he didn't believe a word of it. He was struggling to sit up, so she hurried to his side, and sat down on the side of the cot he occupied.

"No, no, no," she pressed a hand against his shoulder. "You're in no fit state to be going anywhere, and I'm the doctor around here, so I'll decide who's fine and who's sick."

"No one said you were sick," Sheppard told her, and she was glad that he gave up fighting with her, because she doubted that her aching muscles could have restrained him much longer if he had sought to push the issue.

…_her already trembling arms refused to hold her, and she fell forward, but her hips, supported by the bruising grasp of his hands, and the press of his thighs between hers only spread her open to him still more, and he took her still more deeply…_

"Jennifer?" Sheppard was frowning as she shook herself a little.

"Sorry, just…" she took a breath to try and banish the heat she felt creeping into her face. "…it's been a long few days. I've been working almost all the time." She ran her hand over her face. "And when I'm not, I don't sleep very well."

"But he's treating you… okay, right? With respect?" McKay asked, dropping a hand onto her shoulder.

_She let out a long, slow moan at the sensations that touch sent spiralling through her, and a moment later a sharp cry, as his teeth pierced the skin, drawing beads of blood._

Keller winced and twisted away as McKay put pressure on the many bruises and bites against her shoulder, hidden by her clothes.

"We're working together, McKay," she said, getting up to move away, to the medical kit she had brought with her, intending to examine Sheppard while she was here. "He's very complementary of my work, yes."

"That isn't what I asked," McKay answered.

She trembled a little as she leaned over the case to rummage inside for the things she needed to complete the examination, hating herself. A part of her wanted to tell them what was going on, to run in to their arms and confess everything, but she knew she couldn't.

_"My dear… little Jennifer… Make no mistake…"_

_~mistake~ ~mistake~ ~mistake~_

_"You are mine."_

_~mine~ ~mine~ ~mine~_

The moment she said anything, even hinted that there was anything wrong, they would challenge him and she recognised enough of the hyper-alpha male within Todd to know that he would not tolerate such a thing. He would kill them.

Coming to her knees beside the case, Keller leaned her head against the smooth, cool metal and though she fought to remain silent she moaned softly, caught momentarily in rising despair.

"Jennifer," McKay crouched at her side, placed a tentative arm across her sore shoulders. His concern broke the dam and turning, she pressed her head against his shoulder as her tears began to fall.

**

"Hey, hey…" McKay tried to soothe her, feeling awkward, as he began to stroke his hand over her hair.

"I can't do this," she moaned. "I can't—"

"What happened? What did he—" As he started to look up, meaning to catch Sheppard's eye over the top of her head, a different sight caught his attention and he yelped. "Jesus Christ, Jennifer, is that a bite mark?"

There, low against the side of her neck he'd spotted what looked like a huge welt, dark bruises marred the skin around the welt and had begun to spread upward, in shades of yellow and green. He felt her push herself away from him then.

"A bruise," she said hurriedly, and pulled at her shirt to cover the mark.

"Keller," Sheppard ordered, "you better tell me what the hell's going on, or I—"

"A Wraith," she said, "It happened so fast, I—"

"My God," McKay said, feeling his chest tightening in panic, thinking of what could have happened. "It tried to feed on you, didn't it?"

"Why the _hell_ did you try to hide it?" Sheppard said, and McKay didn't miss the scowl on his face. "Surely you—"

"It's sorted," she snapped, grabbing what she needed from the kit and standing, began to move toward Sheppard.

"You mean you told Todd and—"

"It's sorted," she said again.

**

She hated the half lies, the obfuscation created in saying not enough for them to understand. She hated that she'd broken down and made it necessary…

…_Her heartbeat faltered as wave after wave broke over her, drowning her, thundering against her, she couldn't draw breath, she couldn't think, she was only feeling – sensation…_

…and above all, she hated herself for her part in it all… for surrendering to the feelings that she could not understand, could not, in moments of clarity, believe that she had, but that she could not deny existed unless she were to lie to herself.

**

Behind him she began to stir, and Michael gripped the workbench tightly as he swayed slightly, trying to reach for the equipment he needed.

"Now," he ordered her softly, breathing hard simply from the effort of remaining upright. "Come here."

"But… Lord… you—"

He turned his head and growled at her as she picked herself up from where she had been stunned against the side of the computer terminal, where she had landed.

_The worshipper sighed; a trembling, almost rapturous sigh, and reached up to her shirt, to open the neck, to hold the fabric away from her pale, tempting flesh._

_Michael snarled, and threw back his head as his feeding hand flashed forward. He connected hard, and in spite of the flare of pure white agony that rushed through the whole of him as his barely knitted fingers jarred against the solid mass that was her sternum, he pushed hard, sending her flying across the short space between the bio-genetic bed and the side of the research computers._

As he voiced his irritation she hurried to his side, and as soon as she was within reach he grabbed the back of her neck, drawing her closer so that she had no choice but to look up into the harsh expression he fixed into his eyes.

"I will not tell you this again," he said, his voice uncompromising, "I will kill you before I feed on you. I have no need to feed. I am not Wraith."

She nodded wordlessly, terror in her eyes.

"There is a needle in front of you. Pick it up," he ordered her.

"What would you have me do, Lo—?"

_She gripped his arm where it was wrapped around her, suddenly, breathless. "What is your na— How do I call you?"_

"If you _must_ call me something," he spat through gritted teeth, "Then call me—"

_"You do not. There is nothing you __**can**__ call me. You lack the capacity."_

His chest tightened, his breathing beginning to come in short gasping snatches. Everything he was rebelled and tears pricked behind his eyes. He closed them and almost whispered, "My name is Michael."

**

Todd sighed as he stepped into his laboratory on the Elder Hive. Breathing in deeply he could tell that she had recently been here. Her scent was unique. It warmed him at once.

Growling softly he set down the data chips beside the computer and shrugged out of his coat.

"Not quite the welcome home you expected?" the hybrid in the alcove behind began to taunt him almost at once.

Todd tipped his head first one way, and then the other, trying to ease the tension in his neck, trying to banish the many questions he had gripping his mind with the fever of their urgency.

"You will be silent or I will silence you for good," he said with measured threat as he thrust the first of the data chips into the computer, beginning the search for answers to his questions.

**

Michael barely supported himself, slumped against the terminal where he waited for the computer simulation to run its course. His arm ached where the worshipper had performed the unfamiliar procedure under his direction. His head felt as though he had been running a fever for weeks – the fact that he probably had did not escape him – and he felt dizzy, weak… sick and was still burning with hunger.

The computer bleeped softly.

A trembling began in his limbs, fresh tears scalded his eyes, and he had to take a deep breath before he could force himself to raise his head; open his eyes and look on the results of the simulation, and on the spiralling strand of DNA rendered before him.

**

Todd stared at the three genome maps, spinning side by side on his display. Even without the computer generated highlight against a particular section of the DNA spiral of two of them, it was impossible to miss the identical radical that existed in both of them.

He turned his attention to the third genome map – his own – sitting above the others in mock lordship… and there as though written in the collision of blood between past and future was a single corresponding, complementary chromosome.


	3. Act 3

Stargate Atlantis

**Deliverance**

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

A.N: The Wraith word, spoken by Todd has an 'mh' digraph that should be pronounced as a v sound, such as in the word haven.

Act 3

The viewing screen in front of Vega dripped with Wraith characters beside the visual of the bridge of the other Hive ship. She could not help but wonder what was running through the minds of the bridge crew on the other ship as they looked on the display the Elder Queen had made – formal in the demand for fealty of the lesser Wraith. She imagined it must be an imposing sight – as imposing as it was terrifying to _her_.

Vega stood with her eyes downcast, though she looked on through lowered lashes, as the proceedings continued. It was a show of strength for the Hive with which they were now meeting.

The Queen stood in the centre of the bridge, back straight, her braids carefully arranged to complement the Wraith characters that peaked out from beneath her bodice. Behind and to her right, the Hive Commander stood, as straight backed as she, and with Hanna in front of him, his feeding hand resting lightly on the handmaiden's chest, a show of dominance both over the Hive he Commanded, and the Human worlds his Hive culled and commanded.

Vega glanced sideways at Hanna. The other woman stood motionless, and even across the distance between them Vega could see that she was tense, as though standing before her commander was a great effort to her. Vega did not miss the many new bruises and bites that were clearly visible around the woman's neck and shoulders and she wanted to feel sorry for her, but in light of everything that had happened of late, in light of Hanna's apparently growing resentment toward her – a bitterness that was becoming almost threatening – she found it hard. The other woman hadn't a kind word to say to her of late, ever since the incident in the Lower Station in fact.

Thoughts of the Lower Station reminded Vega all to well of the Wraith that stood behind her in an attitude that matched that of the Commander. The Hive Second barely touched her, and yet she felt the burn of his hand at her chest, all too aware that he could at any moment flatten his hand against her chest and attempt to feed and she knew all too well what would happen if that came to pass. That in itself was disturbing enough, but more so was the fact that she could feel an additional tension on the Hive Second, as though he too had just as much difficulty remaining in an apparent state of calm, as did she. It crossed her mind to ask Todd about it, about the sudden attentions that the other Wraith were affording her – unwelcome and more so in the last few days.

"…is unacceptable," the Queen snapped, and Vega realised she had missed much of the dialogue between the Elder Queen and the Queen of the other Hive. "And it cannot be allowed to continue."

"That is as may be," the other Queen snapped, "but what would you have me do. I have the survival of my Hive to consider. Would you have me allow them to starve?"

"Accept me as your Primary," the Elder Queen began as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, "bring those Hives with whom you share an alliance to a meeting place of my choosing, and I will give you the coordinates of a world you may subdue as your own."

"Swear fealty?" the other Queen oozed sarcasm and distaste as she let out the exclamation.

"Or be the cause of the destruction of your Hive, and its alliance, yes," the Elder Queen said, matter of fact.

Vega shivered, feeling the welling of the Queen's triumphant emotions inside of her, feeling herself sickened by them, afraid. In a sudden and deep flaring of panic she wanted to run from the bridge, find Todd and, if she had to, beg for him to take her to his Hive with him when next he travelled there. Anywhere…

She almost screamed as the Hive Second drew her closer to him. Only the press of his mind against hers caught the sound before she could disturb the Queen with it.

**

Almost at the edge of his senses, the Second fought for control as the tips of his finger guards pressed against the Handmaiden's flesh beneath his feeding hand, drawing her back against the hardened muscles of his belly. His mind clamped around hers and the distressed sound that he had stifled.

Hissing a long, slow breath he returned his attention to the view screen and the face of the other Hive's Queen. She was clearly in turmoil. On the one hand, the Elder Queen had appeared from nowhere, demanding fealty for the right to farm some, no doubt, distant world, with nothing but her words, and the display they made for them to back up the demands. On the other, however, the other Hive's commander, if he were worth the honour of the title, would easily have detected that the Elder Hive had her weapons already powered up – ready to strike in a moment's notice.

It was a situation in which no commander ever wished to find himself – standing behind a Queen under such circumstances, when instinct said fight or flee, but the Queen would likely give another order entirely.

Without real effort, he widened his contact with the mental chatter surrounding him, into the regulatory whispers that came from the other Hive.

_{stand down} {down} {down} {down} {down}_

Finding the mind of the other commander, he growled softly as he pushed the mental influence on him. As much as he did not wish to further the Elder Queen's insane expectations, especially with the situation aboard the Elder Hive becoming almost intolerable, it would not do for them to risk becoming victims of some unnecessary fire fight. He felt the Human in front of him stiffen and try to pull away as his growled breath ran through the contact between them, but held her firmly.

"Kindly instruct your Commander not to interfere with the operation of my Hive," the other Queen snapped to the Elder.

The Second held his face impassive as the Elder Queen glanced at the Hive Commander, a deep scowl on his face.

"My Queen—" he began, but she had already turned toward the screen again.

"Were you to obey," she said coldly, "My commander would not _need_ to impose my will on your Hive."

The other Queen was clearly caught off guard by the Elder Queen's response, and for a moment floundered. The Second could feel her doubt echo like a ripple through the otherwise controlled mind of her Hive.

"Very well," she finally conceded, after a brief whispered message from her commander. "I will comply with your request. Transmit the coordinates of your meeting place – however…"

The Second could not help but be amused as the posturing between the Queens continued.

"… to bring those in my alliance… they will not be easily persuaded to a rendezvous that would leave their Hives vulnerable." The other Hive's Queen fixed the Elder with an angry stare. "They, as I, require surety."

"How dare you suggest—"

"I dare nothing more than you would yourself, in defence of your Hive," the other Queen snapped. "How dare _you_ suggest I would do anything less!"

A movement in the doorway to the bridge momentarily caught the Hive Second's attention, and he turned his head enough to see, from the corner of his eye, the drones that entered, dragging with them the bruised and bloodied form of the former Wraith Scientist, and the hybrid creature from the other scientist's laboratory.

He could not help but chuckle at the Elder Queen's folly. Showing her hand so soon in the proceedings was a gamble. If this one's alliance were strong enough she might simply gather with her sister Hives and make an attempt to destroy the Elder Hive, and their 'Abomination' with it.

That thought ended the chuckle almost as soon as it had begun, and the Second returned his full attention to the argument between the two Queens.

**

Vega gasped as she set eyes on Michael. It had been a long time since last she had seen him and he did not look at all well, and in spite of all that he had done, all of the things for which he was responsible since his transformation at the hands of the people from earth, she felt her heart moved toward compassion. He raised his head to look at her, and she thought, for just a moment, that she saw him shake his head, before the effort of holding it up obviously became to great and he let it slump forward once more.

Behind her, the Hive Second's body stiffened, and the hard finger guards once more dug in painfully against her chest. She could not contain the slight whimper that came from her in that instant.

"With both of us bringing those with whom we share alliances to the meeting," the Elder Queen questioned haughtily, "do you really believe that I would make an attempt on the lives of those in yours. It would be folly."

"Neither yours, nor my own, are the only alliances that exist among the remaining Queens, nor are we the only ones capable of such destruction." The other Hive's Queen wasn't giving up, and Vega could feel the Elder Queen's anger rising. It made her feel even more uncomfortable than she already was, as if countless tiny insects were biting at her insides.

"You need not fear The Abomination or his army of creatures!" the Elder Queen snarled, and with a wave of her hand toward the drones, she summoned them to bring Michael into the space beside her; force him to his knees – though with the way he could barely keep his feet, Vega thought there was little forcing necessary.

The other Queen's guard slipped, and she allowed surprise to register in her face for just a moment before she hardened her expression again. Vega suddenly felt that it was almost as if it were a game to these two, and somehow that chilled her more than if she'd thought they both were serious.

"And what of the Lanteans?" the other Queen said when she had regained her composure.

Vega felt suddenly sick, and couldn't help but glance toward Michael and his hybrid once more, as if she could by her very desperation will them to be silent.

"The Lanteans possess a single battle ship," the Elder Queen said with contempt. "I do not think that even _they_ would be arrogant enough to attempt such an attack."

Vega almost fainted with relief when the other Queen, growling softly, all her objections obviously met and countered, said, "Very well. Transmit the coordinates. We will attend."

**

Todd lifted his head slightly as he sensed, more than heard, the light footsteps approaching the laboratory. Shutting down the computer assisted microscope, he turned just as she stepped into the room.

"Todd—" she started softly, but his answering growl cut off anything she had been going to say. He breathed in deeply and all around her could sense the essence of another Wraith, whose presence lingered over her like a soiled blanket.

"Who has been _with_ you, Alicia!" he demanded, unable to keep the angry tone from his voice as he advanced toward her.

She backed away from him as quickly as she could, colliding with the bulkhead almost in the same moment that he reached her and leaned down to her, breathing in again.

"Todd, don't. I—!" She brought up a hand to fend him off, pressing against his shoulder. A futile gesture, he simply continued to lean down, inhaling deeply of the usurper's scent.

"He is all _over_ you!" Todd snarled, the many tones in his voice merging to a single angry growl.

Again she tried to fend him off, her hand pressing against him, he could feel the desperation in the contact, however the gesture angered him still further, and grabbing her wrist in an uncompromising grasp he slammed it back against the bulkhead wall.

**

The pain as the back of her hand hit the wall broke what was left of Vega's self control. She cried out, wordlessly, and her eyes filled with tears.

"Who has touched you?" Todd continued harsh in the triple tones that pushed against her, threatened to suffocate. "What Wraith!"

"Todd," she cried his name. "You're hurting me. Please let go!"

"Tell me!" he demanded.

"I haven't done anything… nothing wrong, please," she stammered. "The Queen… there was a meeting… she had us stand… and in the worshippers' quarters, a fight… the Hive Second…"

As she stumbled over her explanation, desperately trying to figure out what it was he wanted to know; what he could sense; smell on her, the tears in her eyes spilled onto her cheeks and she began to sob through the fear and shock that Todd could turn on her this way, in spite of his repeated warnings to remember who it was – what it was – with which she dealt.

**

The sound cut through him, as though she had plunged a dagger into his chest, and all the anger drained through the wound. She was weeping, and he was the cause and under it, instinct evaporated.

Becoming lamb, though with no less strength than the lion he had just been, he drew her away from the bulkhead, against his chest and closed his arms around behind her, holding her almost tenderly.

She was stiff in his embrace, and he could not fault her for that as he could feel her fear at his treatment of her; her terror at his anger.

"Ah," he purred softly, "_my_ little Alicia, you mistake me. My anger is not for you, but for those who may have harmed you."

"You… hurt me," she hiccupped.

Todd carefully ran his fingers down the length of her arm, to find her wrist, brushing the tips of his fingers over her skin and as she winced, he carefully lifted the hand to meet the press of his lips.

**

Vega tugged on her hand as he kissed the back of it, and her wrist where he had held her in the ferocity of his anger… trying to banish the breathlessness that grasped her at his kisses. He did not stop her from drawing her hand away, but neither did he let go of her at all.

She looked up at him, "Please tell me you're not going away again."

She felt him sigh, and she pulled out of his arms, and started to walk away, closing her eyes as she stopped beside the workbench as he said, "You must understand, my Alicia, I cannot leave my own Hive without its commander for too long."

"Then take me with you," she told him.

She sighed softly, and leaned against him as he came behind her and took hold of her shoulders.

"I cannot simply remove you from the Queen's service," he told her softly, caressing her neck with the tips of his fingers.

"But you said…" she looked up at him, and then turned in his arms, her stomach knotting in little swirls of excitement at his closeness, "you said it wasn't unheard of for a commander to ask for the company of his concubine if he had to go away."

"And you are correct," he told her, drawing her closer, "however, I cannot approach the Queen with this, Alicia."

She wriggled away from him again, her tears returning, though she tried to push them away with a bubbling anger the hurt had kindled.

"So instead you tell me to stick with the Queen, ask the Second for help if there's trouble, and yet when he _has_ helped, you pin me to the wall, and start talking like some—"

"Tell me, little one," he purred, and she jumped as his hands closed around her arms, again turning her to face him. He crooked his finger under her chin and brought her eyes up to meet with his. "What happened that you had need to approach the Hive Second for assistance?"

For just a moment she considered not telling him anything, but she could read him well enough to notice the spark of anger still bubbling under the surface of his newfound calm.

"It wasn't so much a case of me approaching him, more like he pulled me out of the middle of an ugly situation," she said softly, unhappily as she remembered. "I was near to where the worshippers have their quarters and—"

"What were you doing there!" he all but roared, causing her to take another step back, pulling out of his arms again.

"You weren't here," she accused. "Hanna was busy but she needed something, so she asked if I'd go to fetch it. I didn't see the harm in—"

"No, of course you didn't," Todd purred softly again, and walked past her until he could sit on the side of the cot, where he held out his hand to her and invited softly, "Come. Sit. Tell me."

Vega shook her head, "You'll only snap at me again."

"No, my little Alicia, I promise you," he sighed, "I was only angry through concern for you. The Lower Station is a dangerous place at the best of times and I can probably surmise that this is _not_ the best of times."

Alicia allowed her reluctant steps to carry her toward the cot, before she slipped her hand into his outstretched palm. She felt the strength that she had missed flowing into her from the contact and sat down beside him, closer than she had intended, and did not fight when he drew her back into his arms.

"Not the best of times at all… at least not for Isla," she whispered, closing her eyes against unexpected tears.

"Isla?" Todd echoed. "Perhaps you should begin at the beginning."

"Hanna asked me to get something for her, but I never made it to the worshippers, you know, to where they live. On the way I heard crying, and I found Isla… a woman, fairly young I'd say. She was in the middle of a miscarriage, Todd, I couldn't just leave her."

"These things happen, Alicia," he said softly, and from the look on his face Vega could tell that he was trying to sympathise.

"I suppose you see these kinds of things all the time," she said, not without a little petulance in her voice. "She did say that it was her master's feeding that had caused it."

"Not… all the time," Todd said, "but on occasion it has been known that a Wraith will unwittingly give the gift to one of his female worshippers with child. An unfortunate side effect of the process causes a Human foetus to spontaneously abort due to the sudden concentration of Wraith enzymes passing through the link between mother and child."

Alicia shook her head, feeling slightly sick. She hadn't needed to know the details, and in any case that wasn't what she'd said. "No, Todd, this woman said her master's _feeding_."

Todd tilted his head, his voice almost sing song as he told her, "It is unusual for a Wraith to feed on a female worshipper." But he waved a hand, urging her to go on.

"I went to get help for her, but the men I met were not so friendly and certainly not helpful," she glossed over her time in the Lower Station, chilled by the attitude she had received from everyone there. "It was as though no one wanted to know."

"Likely none did," Todd said, his voice soft, and she realised that what she was describing was as normal to him as it was to her to want to help.

"I'm sorry, just…" she turned enough in his arms that she could see his face. "It's not natural to me. I don't mean to judge but—"

"But you have anyway," he told her without reproach in his voice; a simple statement of fact. "I told you the Lower Station is a dangerous place. The worshippers know only that they either please their Wraith masters or they do not, and if they do not, then it is unlikely that their lives would be long enough to regret their actions. It is their place to be unseen and unheard unless they are spoken to, and since one worshipper can turn on another if they believe it to be to their benefit; to gain the favour of Wraith, worshippers rarely help each other."

"So I discovered," Alicia said, looking up into his eyes, "but she was hurting. She needed some help so—"

She broke off, biting her lip, remembering full well that she had most likely overstepped the bounds of her position when she had brought the Queen into the matter.

**

Todd narrowed his eyes as he watched Alicia take her lip between her teeth again, knowing that something of her own doing must have escalated the situation if the Hive Second had become involved, and this other human, this _Isla_… he decided he needed to know more about that one if he were to fully understand.

"What did you do?" he purred, almost a sigh.

Alicia spoke all in a rush, her words running into one another. "I told them the Queen would be unhappy if her servant and the future servant she carried died due to their lack of vigilance."

For a moment Todd could not believe he had heard the words that she had just spoken, but when he looked on the earnest expression on her face, the worried spark within her eyes, he knew he had not been mistaken. He put back his head, and laughed.

"It isn't funny," Alicia snapped, pulling away with a hurt expression on her face.

"Oh, Alicia, I laugh not _at_ you but _with_ you," he told her softly, and reached to run the back of his feeding hand down her cheek in a gentle expression of concern. "Would that I had been there to see the expressions on their faces."

"They weren't happy," she told him, the petulance in her expression softening at his touch as she began to lean in to the caress.

"I would imagine not," he said. "And this was where the trouble started?"

She shook her head against the touch of his hand. "One of the men came back with me, but I think Isla must have been half mad with the pain or something, because she attacked him with some kind of knife. Then the other one showed up with a mob, and it got a little bit out of hand, especially when a Wraith tried to break up the fight."

"The Hive Second?"

"No, another Wraith first of all, but no one took any notice of him. That was when the Hive Second showed up," she said. "And he just waded in and broke it right up. Pushed me against a wall and held me there."

Alicia shivered, and the look of distress that flew across her face caused a knot to settle in his belly. He drew her back into his arms, closing them around her. Aside from her distress he did not like the fact that the Second had gotten himself involved in a worshippers' brawl, nor, apparently, singled out Alicia to pull out of the midst of it.

"And then?" he pushed gently, tucking her beneath his chin.

"And then nothing," she said. "I was terrified, Todd, I thought he was going to try and feed on me, but he just held me there, trying to stop me from struggling until he'd got everything under control. Then he ordered they take Isla to his quarters, and he all but dragged _me_ here like some errant child. Told me to stay here and wait for you."

Todd growled softly, his suspicions growing. As gently as he could he said, "Obviously you didn't."

"Well no, the Queen sent for me, and… on the bridge just now I had to stand with him in that… that stupid display of strength or… whatever the hell she was trying to do."

"Have a care, Alicia," Todd growled.

"Why?" she asked from under his chin, "you don't give a damn about what I say about the Queen, and you've probably said worse yourself, in your own Wraith kind of way."

"I am not most Wraith, and if you forget yourself—"

"I'm not going to," she said and sat up enough that she could look at him, "because I know the difference between you and _most Wraith_."

The knot in his belly tightened. He did not like that she was making the distinction in that way. It would only take a momentary slip, and that would be an end to it. He also did not like the implications with the involvement of the Hive Second. If he could, he would take Alicia with him when he left again but as matters stood that too was impossible unless he wanted to arouse a good deal of suspicion as to where he was going.

"No, Alicia," he said, tilting her head up to meet the serious expression in his eyes. "I will not allow it."

Before she could argue with him again, as he sensed she was going to, he captured her lips under his, nipping sharply with his teeth against her lower lip, drawing blood, but deepening the kiss at her gasp, and plundering the taste of her mouth – fighting the madness that threatened to descend on him as he did.

**

"You know," Zelenka said as he came to a halt at Ronon's side, "Perhaps this isn't such a good idea after all."

"Radek," Ronon said in as soft a tone as he could muster. The last thing he wanted was for the man to get cold feet on him now, with McKay away on Todd's Hive with Sheppard and Jennifer Zelenka was the only one he could ask for help in this. "I just want to get inside… stand in there a while, see if I can get the sense of her… figure out where she might have gone."

"But… these are her private quarters, Ronon," Zelenka argued, "it is like… prying or stalking or—"

"What if she's in danger and needs our help?" Ronon cut him off. "What if, by going in there I can catch up to her in time to save her life?"

"You don't know that's the case," Zelenka said.

"You don't know it's not," Ronon countered. "Look, if you're worried about getting into trouble, I'll happily own up to everything. I'll even say I threatened you."

"But you didn't," Zelenka said in the same charmingly naïve way he usually did.

"I could if you wanted me to," Ronon said with a grin, then added, "Please, Radek. She may need us."

Zelenka sighed, but with no further argument hooked up his tablet to the door control and opened the door to Teyla's former quarters to allow Ronon to go inside.

"Thanks man, I owe you one," Ronon said.

"Yes, well… I know nothing about this," Radek said, and hurried away.

That suited Ronon just fine. He didn't need an audience to his communion with Teyla's ghost. He shivered. Thinking of it that way was not healthy. Teyla was alive and well – she had to be.

The room was exactly as she had left it, the dark earthen tones wrapping themselves around him almost before he stepped inside and allowed the atmosphere of the place to caress him; allowed himself to breathe in the essence that was uniquely Teyla.

"Where are you?" he whispered into the silence. "Where do I start looking?"

He turned full circle as though the answer would come to him. Her clothing hung in the open closet just as she'd left it, with her Bantu sticks at rest on the table beside it. He would have thought she would take them with her, use them as defence, until he remembered that originally she had only left to be with her people, to stay with them while she made sense of her thoughts; recovered from the betrayal she felt they, as her friends, had committed.

_"You really meant it," he said sadly, "about not coming back?"_

_"Ronon, I am sorry," she said softly, "but not for a long time, if ever."_

_He sighed and looked down trying to think of what he could say to give her comfort. Nothing came to him, and she continued._

_"Knowing that people I have called my friends for more than four years could treat me the way I have been treated; could keep something like this from me – it leaves me groundless – with nowhere I can turn for support."_

_"You could always come to me," he said._

_"But you knew as well," she accused gently. "Why didn't you tell me?"_

_"Teyla," Ronon sighed. "It's not that I didn't want to tell you – I just didn't know how."_

_"You have always known the way to speak with me," she said, looking up at him._

_He shook his head. "Not like this, not _about_ this," he said. "Every time I thought about the… experiments he must have done to you; to the baby… how he took something beautiful and pure that you and Kanaan had made and corrupted it with his madness, I just… I just wanted to tear him apart with my bare hands and—"_

As he turned his eyes fell on the bed, and the small Athosian crib, incomplete beside it. He crossed the room and lowered himself to his knees beside it.

"You made your son with Kanaan," he said, echoing his words to her, "I know you did."

He reached inside the crib, to run his fingers over the soft blanket that still lay folded inside, trying to imagine what it would have been like to have had Teyla's child there on Atlantis, to watch him, and to play with him as he grew.

His fingers slipped from the blanket and connected with something solid, hard. He thought at first it was the base of the crib, but realised soon after that it did not have the texture he would have expected from the wood at the crib's base, and that it would have at least held a comfortable mattress for the base of the child's bed, so gingerly he moved aside the folded blanket.

There beneath, was a leather bound book of the kind in which he'd once seen Teyla writing. He held his breath as he started to pick up the book…

Teyla's journal.

**

Vega shivered as she looked around and as she did the thought occurred to her that the room in which she stood was probably the most dangerous place in the entire Pegasus Galaxy at that time.

Three white haired queens, as well as one of black hair, and another of unyielding blood red sat arrogantly on straight backed chairs arranged in a semi circle facing the dais, their respective commanders at their right shoulders. The Elder Queen held court over all of them from the top of her dais, her own expression one of distain for her company.

"You overestimate your reach," the first of the white haired queens snapped, getting to her feet and pacing across the width of the half circle. "Even though you hold that… _thing_ as your captive, it does not stop what remains of his organisation from causing difficulties. Nor does it undo the harm he has wrought in poisoning our food source."

"For which my best scientist seeks a solution," the Elder Queen countered. "It will not be long in coming and when it does, tell me… on which side would you rather be?"

The first of the white haired queens opened her mouth to make some kind of comment, but was prevented from doing so by the black haired queen who sprang to her feet so suddenly that it startled Vega, and she took a step back.

She saw Hanna throw a glance her way, and turned her head to meet the other woman's eyes. The expression of mixed nervousness and contempt would have been comical, were it not for the chilling reality of the trouble the other woman had already caused her.

"All of our best scientists have been working to find a solution to that problem. What makes _your_ Hive's efforts any better than the rest?" the black haired queen demanded.

"What we need," the red haired queen also got to her feet, joining the argument, "is a new, untainted feeding ground. Tell us… are you any nearer to providing us with the location of such a place?"

"This… _Earth_ the Lantean's fight so hard to protect," the second of the white haired queens murmured sarcastically, though she did not rise. "Where is that?"

"Only by _ending_ the strife between our kind," the Elder Queen growled less than patient with her fellow queens, "do we stand a chance of defeating the Lanteans and finding an expeditious way to their home world. One _issue_ at a time. Sit!"

Whether or not the Elder Queen pushed her will onto the other queens Vega could not be sure, but each of the three that were standing returned to their seats, grumbling and unhappy.

"Better," the Elder Queen told them.

The third of the white haired queens – the queen that Vega remembered from the view screen – tilted her head to regard the Elder.

"So you draw us all here," she asked at last, "to form this alliance – what then?"

"Meaning?"

"What do you expect of us? What is the purpose of this alliance?"

"I told you," the Elder Queen said, "We must _end_ the strife among our people."

"By force or by politics?" the red haired queen demanded.

"By whatever means necessary," the Elder Queen answered coldly. "Beginning here. Now."

Vega gasped.

As the Elder Queen spoke, several armed wraith commanders entered the chamber, their weapons trained on the five queens at the foot of the dais.

"What is the _meaning_ of this?" the first of the white haired queens got to her feet again, turning full circle before glaring up at the Elder Queen. The Elder stood and began to slowly descend the steps toward the other.

"This is the point of no return," the Elder said menacingly softly, as her commander descended the steps behind her – protective and strong. The Queen tilted her head and continued, "We have spent many hours in talk and in dispute, and I have answered all of your questions – now it is time for _you_ to answer the only one that has meaning to me."

She came to a halt just out of arms' reach of the other queen, her feeding hand clawed and slightly raised. From around her the hissed displeasure of the other four queens turned the air sibilant in its anger.

"Stand with me in alliance, or choose death!"

Vega's breath caught in her chest as without warning the white haired queen who had protested flew at the Elder, faster than anything Vega had ever seen. Even so the Elder Queen was not taken off guard. She grabbed the other's outstretched hand and using it, and her greater strength, the Elder Queen twisted the other queen beneath her, pushing her face first against the dais steps, where she held her momentarily.

"Pity," she purred entirely without a hint of sorrow in her voice. "We would have been stronger _with_ your participation… still – you have made your choice."

In the next heartbeat, the Elder Queen flipped the other onto her back and thrust down with her feeding hand. With an almost Leonine roar she began to feed, and Vega turned her eyes away from the sight as the struggling queen withered and aged before her eyes, becoming nothing more than a dried husk of her former self, before that, too, crumbled to dust under the Elder Queen's onslaught.

"Now," the Elder Queen growled as she turned to face the other queens, "does anyone else wish to voice an objection?"

**

For a long time he sat with the journal in his hands, looking over the bindings, feeling the weight of the book, and wondering if what was inside contributed to that weight; if the answer to his worried question could be found within the privacy of its many leaves, and if it were, did he have the right to search for it.

Ronon sighed, fighting with his conscience. He needed to find Teyla, but was this the way?

Shaking his head he set the journal down on the bed where he was sitting, and getting up, walked around the room a little, trying again to find some sense of Teyla left behind, something that might tell him where he could find her. In the end his eyes were drawn once more to the journal that lay where he had left it, all but calling to him.

He picked up the book in his hand and ran his fingers along the soft cover again, before taking a breath, and opening the pages, seeing Teyla's flowing script filling the paper, his eyes running over snippets, hearing her voice in his head even without trying to read the words.

_"I__ managed to get John to fly me out to the mainland today so that I could see the woods of this world. The seasons have just changed and we are in the fall. I should like to have seen the woods in the springtime, or in the fullness of their summer foliage, but... other things came between us then."_

He flicked through several pages, trying not to wonder on what he'd read – what it was that had come between Teyla and John at that time. As he skimmed through the words on the page, his eyes could not help but halt over certain words in the entry he began to read…

_"We have always been a migratory people, on Athos we moved our settlements around in order to avoid the Wraith cullings, but migration on a single world is one thing, migration all about the galaxy quite another. I got the sense from Halling that this, among other reasons, has unsettled those few Athosians that remain._

_Yet, if what I learned from Halling is true, that my people seek a place in which we can finally settle; a place to call our home, where would we go? Is there another world that we could inhabit more happily than the mainland of this one, or should we return to New Athos, and risk once again becoming caught up in the campaign that Michael, with my son in his hands, wages against the Wraith?_

_Perhaps, after so many years, we should seek to return to Athos itself and hope that, in being left fallow for so long, it may have recovered from the desolation left by the Wraith in their retaliation for our resistance against them. Or would it be too hard for us to come full circle in this way?"_

Ronon sighed. Several more pages passed through his fingers as he shared Teyla's worries for her people. Even after everything that had happened she still maintained the concern of a leader for her people and her place among them.

It was the difference in format that first caught his eyes as he flicked a few pages forward, and looking at the date he saw that it was dated not too long before she left Atlantis, after she had returned from her ritual with Halling.

_"I dream wherein I am the shore._

_Grain on grain,_

_A multi facet being,_

_And all my parts subsume_

_The very essence of time_

_Long past - tumbled and turned_

_In you._

_At your insistence,_

_I erode and fall,_

_Willing beneath your caress,_

_Long for your return;_

_To feel the gentle coming_

_Of your quiescent whisper…"_

Was she remembering Kanaan, and her love for him? The poem certainly struck him as one that spoke of love, and it made him smile to think that Teyla wrote such beautiful words for Kanaan – the man she had loved – the father of her son.

Until he read the commentary she had, in a shaky hand, scrawled between the verses of the poem…

_"It is 3am, (Atlantis Standard Time). I cannot sleep. I have been dreaming again. It is the same dream I have had often of late. I am standing on my balcony in the dream, looking out over the water, my back to the city. His voice (something in that voice which resonates in me - though I probably should never admit that too loudly around here), comes from behind me. The words he speaks, the truth of them, are burned into my memory, perhaps deeper than that._

_"...And even though you've betrayed me repeatedly, you're still the only one, human or Wraith, who's ever come close to understanding what I've been through. We're not that different, Teyla."_

_I turn to face him as he speaks, to find myself behind the spiral bars of the cell in his cruiser, no longer on Atlantis... or am I? Is this place - has it become - a prison of my own making?_

_There are many things that I find myself questioning, in quiet moments, now. Things that from one point of view make one kind of sense, and from another, they are entirely something different. At times like these I find myself wishing there was someone I could talk to... because there is no one, because they would not understand._

_And that saddens me._

_Perhaps it is time to fulfil my promise and return to visit with Raisa and Chaya, for even Halling... he has taken sides, most clearly, with his rescuers, and would you not think that I, who was equally taken by Michael, held by him, with threat to my child... that still continues… would you not think I would be equally as bitter, equally as angry, equally as unwilling to forgive? But I am not, and part of me is afraid of that, because I recognise that we pushed him to this. I pushed him to this... and my conscience weighs heavily with it. He came to me to ask for my help, and instead of acting on my own sense of right and justice, I allowed myself to be influenced by the beliefs of others. This is not Teyla; this is not the woman I am. How... have I become that person?_

_The dream continues, sometimes more clearly than others, and today I remember most clearly the day that we captured him for Carson's experiment... The way we fought, the recognition between us... the, (dare I confess it even here), excited fear that ran through me as he had me pinned at the bulkhead, poised on that knife edge between one action and another in those seconds before Ronon took him down; a sensation I felt again some few days later in an almost identical situation._

_How can I deny that I understand him?_

_And there is no denial in the continuance of the dream, only desire… a longing as I see Kanaan's features shift to be his and I reach for him all the more, knowing this… understanding this…and wanting to feel the reality of it, not some distant ghostly touch in a dream…_

_I write this for you, Michael, though I doubt you will ever read it._

_And yet strong winds_

_Around us drive to fury_

_All of our intentions._

_And tumultuous you descent_

_Into the very essence of me,_

_Deep, and strong,_

_Yet true - in hurt, withdraw._

_And still..._

_At your insistence_

_And recall, I fall,_

_Willing beneath your caress,_

_Long for your return;_

_To feel the gentle coming_

_Of your quiescent whisper._

_I dream wherein I am the shore,_

_The beach whereon I know,_

_you come, finally,_

_To rest protected..._

_And I can wake - content._

Ronon couldn't stop the growl from rumbling in his chest as he read, and re-read, against his better judgement, the words on the page.

How… how could she…? It wasn't desire, or love or anything other than some kind of fall out from some twisted manipulation. He'd got into her head, messed with her mind. He—

Growling again, Ronon turned and threw the journal hard against the wall.

**

His hand clamped around her throat as he pushed her against the back of the throne, growling into her face even as she reached for him, feeding hand flailing. He grabbed that too, digging his nails into her wrist as he forced her hand away.

"I told you," he snarled, "_my Queen_, that I would be here when I was able, and yet _still_ you interrupt important business to drag me here, and for what!"

"I wanted to speak with you. You… you… are my commander. I—"

He tightened his fingers, choking off her words, roaring at her, "Yes, I am your commander, and as such it is my duty to command your Hive and conduct such business as is necessary to ensure its safety, which I _cannot _do if I am constantly answering every little _whim_!"

He pulled her away from the back of the throne, almost, but not quite allowing her feet to touch the ground as he pulled her from it, and took her down the steps to the floor of the throne room.

"You _will_ learn restraint, _my _Queen, or you will leave me no alternative but to repeat this lesson until you _do_!"

Without a further word to her he released her with a flick of his wrist that sent her skittering across the floor as she fell. Satisfied with the almost contrite, though hurt expression that crossed her face, he turned on his heels and with rapid, but unhurried steps, left the Queen's Chamber and headed for the bridge.

**

She tilted her head as she entered the laboratory, ignoring the human woman that fell to her knees at the sight of the Elder Queen. The Queen had eyes only for the former Hybrid, now turned… mostly… Wraith.

He snarled at her as she ran her hand over his bruised, naked torso, and she hissed in return, neither saying anything but making their positions clear to one another through the mere atmosphere. Not even a touch, mind to mind, was necessary to convey what each of them thought of the other.

"It need not be like this," she told him at last, not removing the touch, having no intention of removing the touch.

"I know how you would rather it be," The Abomination hissed, "and I can assure you that I have no intention of granting your wishes."

"No?" she asked, exaggerating her disappointment. "You would rather I subjected you to more—"

"Gentle persuasion?" he asked sarcastically. "Spare me the euphemisms, _my Queen_. We both know that unless I give you that which you desire you will subject me to further torture."

"Torture is such an… ugly word," she purred, running her feeding hand almost sensually over his chest.

"Torture _is_ such an ugly act," he countered, flinching at her touch. "Believe me, I have been on both sides of the experience."

"Ah, my scientist," she leaned closer, never once removing her feeding hand, dripping enzyme in her excitement at his apparent docility.

"_Your_ scientist," he answered, and twisted aside from the dripping open maw she poised over his heart. "Hardly."

"No," she admitted, "I suppose you only ever worked to your own agenda."

"I'm glad you finally realised," he answered coldly, meeting her eyes with a hard, golden stare of his own. "It has only taken… how many centuries?"

"Enough!" She snarled, raking the side of his chest with her blade tipped fingers. "You mock me!"

"Yes," he hissed, then cried out as she thrust the blades through his barely healed shoulder.

"I will give you one more chance, _Michael._" She mocked him cruelly, twisting the blades that were still embedded in his shoulder. "Surrender yourself to me. Give me what I want and—"

**

"I would rather _die!"_ Michael spat, snarling through the pain in his shoulder.

"It can be arranged," she roared, pulling away her hand, releasing a spray of his blood into the air between them.

"Go ahead," he snapped, pouring ice into his voice, soothing his temper with the chill in it. It would do him little good to lose control. It could only end in his death and he had to survive long enough to exact justice on all Wraith that had crossed him and in particular the scientist that had been the source of his torment.

"A pity," she said, trailing her blade tipped fingers down the length of his body, as she leaned closer, sinuously snaking her body over his until she could bring her face closer to his, to all but whisper in his ear, "…I could have given you such pleasure…"

_=pleasure= =pleasure= =pleasure=_

"…as exquisite as the pain you have chosen to receive."

_=to receive= =receive= =receive= =receive= =receive=_

As she spoke, Michael braced himself for that pain, shuddering at her attempts to force herself into his mind, her clumsy attempts at sensuality, the nearness of her body.

All conscious thought ceased in the following moment as she moved away quickly and a searing, white pain burst into every nerve and fibre of his body. His back arched, and he could not hold the cry as the energy from the bio-genetic bed assaulted him to an almost molecular level. It was but a momentary burst, but the firing of nerve cluster left him shuddering and moaning in continued pain, and he barely turned his head in time to avoid vomiting over himself.

"We could have been magnificent," she leaned down to him, to breathe the words into his ear, before she left… the press of her mind, filling him with images of the two of them, entwined in sinuous embraces, leaving him as nauseated as the effects of the pain, was the last indication that she had finally left.

The light touch on his wrist made him start, and pull back his hand as far as the restraint would allow. He had been so caught by the residual aches that he had not even heard the worshipper approaching.

Her fingers were cool against the burning of his skin as she carefully unfastened the restraints at his wrists and ankles. He tried to sit up, but found himself unable… too weak… too much pain… instead rolled to his side, and all but fell from the bed.

"Why do you do this?" the worshipper asked him softly. She brushed her fingers across his brow to push back his hair.

"This?" he whispered, questioning.

"Fight her? Why?" the woman poured a little water into a bowl, and added a drop or two of something from a bottle he saw her take from her sleeve. She then took up a cloth from the bowl, and wringing out the water began gently to dab at the mess the Queen had made of his shoulder.

He hissed at the burn of the antiseptic, but since she had asked an honest question, he tried to answer. "She and I… have a long history together. She wronged me many times. Why would I _not_ fight?"

"Because she hurts you?" the worshipper said.

"Physical pain is nothing," he said, not thinking. "And she cannot hurt me any more in any other way."

"The one you have lost must have been… very special to you," the worshipper said softly, removing the stinging touch of the antiseptic cloth from his shoulder. He turned his head so quickly to look at the perceptive young woman that she took a fearful step back. "Forgive me, Lor—"

"She was," he said softly, closing his eyes and feeling a new rush of emotional pain at the emptiness where Teyla had once been.

**

"I am glad you came to visit with me, Ronon," Raisa said, bringing the bowl of steaming liquid to him. He inhaled deeply of the rich scent of the tea, and nodded his thanks to the woman.

"I didn't know what else to do," he told her honestly. "I thought she was with her people, but according to Halling, she's been gone for weeks now, and none of us even knew she was missing."

"It is a worry," Raisa said, "and I wish I could give you comfort. I wish Teyla _had_ come to me, but the last time I saw her was months ago, during the time she had the troubles with her friends from the city—"

"Atlantis?" Ronon blinked in surprised. "So this is where she ran to?"

"Yes," Raisa told him. "My daughter, Chaya, found her near the Ring of the Ancestors. She was ill with fever, and once she had rested, told me of her ordeal, and of the one called—"

"Michael," Ronon snarled.

"Yes," Raisa said again, and sipping her own tea, asked, "Do you believe she could be searching for this… man?"

"Michael's not a man, he's a Wraith," Ronon snarled.

"That is not as Teyla describes him," Raisa argued gently. "While he was once Wraith as you name him, she said the people of the City of the Ancestors gave to him a medicine that destroyed that which made him Wraith – for a time at least."

Ronon sighed, and felt his chest tighten unexpectedly with emotion. The woman reminded him so much of Teyla, yet at the same time was wholly different and he found himself drawn to listen to her, even though he disagreed with her, just as he had with Teyla.

"She told you all of that?" he asked, trying to keep the sarcasm from his voice. He did not want to dishonour himself, and Raisa with that.

"Yes. That and many things," Raisa said. "Particularly of the time she spent in his company."

"His captivity," Ronon corrected, he would not concede that.

"As you wish," Raisa said, good naturedly, sipping tea once again in a silence that suggested to Ronon that she was waiting for him to speak. When he did not she said softly, "searching?"

"Oh, sorry," Ronon covered his embarrassment by sipping his tea. "Yeah, I think she's searching for him. She told you about the baby, right?"

"Her son, yes," she confirmed. "She told me that Michael kept the boy from her. If you believe she is searching for this Michael because of her son, then why would she have come to me?"

Ronon shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He felt as though he had been caught, red handed, with Teyla's journal. "She… um…"

"What is it, Ronon?" Raisa set down her tea, and moved toward him, to crouch near where he was sitting and laid a hand onto his wrist, over the leather guard he wore there. "Teyla named you as one of her closest friends; a brother, if there is anything that I can tell you that will help in your search, please, I would hear it. I will not judge you for it."

That did not make him feel any better about what he'd done, in fact it left him feeling worse.

"I was just looking for clues for how to find her, Raisa, you have to believe that," he said.

"I will not judge you, Ronon," she told him again, meeting his eyes with her own.

He fell into her gaze, into the honesty he saw there and while feeling more ashamed than ever of the snooping that had led to his disquiet over Teyla's state of mind he answered her quietly.

"I found her journal… I thought if I read something… if I flicked through it, it might help me to figure out where to find her, or at least where to start looking," he said.

"And what you read has… troubled your heart," she guessed.

He couldn't answer; couldn't bring himself to tell her what he'd found. He wouldn't allow himself to entertain the thought of it. Mutely he shook his head.

"You fear she may have feelings for Michael," Raisa said softly.

"No," he snapped, and when she tilted her head, silently challenging his denial, he said, "I think that Michael made her believe she does. Wraith… have this ability… they mess with people's minds, they—"

Raisa nodded, and foolishly he realised that she, as all in the Pegasus Galaxy understood only too well the power of the Wraith. It was not the realisation that cut him off, however, but her soft spoken words.

"But Michael is not Wraith."

**

"Commander!"

Todd paused mid-step along the breezeway into the Dart Bay, breathing out a long, slow sigh, before he turned to face his Second who came hurrying toward him. He felt the other's alarm even before the usually calm, collected Wraith reached him.

"What is it?" he demanded.

"I have just come from the Queen's Chambers. Commander, I regret, you cannot leave," his Second said.

"Cannot le—" his anger flared at the audacity of his Second and he all but roared, "Unless you think to challenge me as Commander of this Hive, you would do well not to seek to order me!"

"I mean no disrespect, Commander," his Second said. "You mistake my purpose."

Todd advanced on the subordinate Wraith, step by slow step as he answered, "Then you had better reveal your purpose, and quickly."

"It is the Queen, Commander," his Second said.

"What of her?" Todd asked, barely trying to conceal his contempt for the young Wraith female.

"She is in First Zenith," his Second said.

Todd froze, lest he rock back on his heels. It should not have happened, not so soon. By his estimation there were days, perhaps weeks before the young queen reached that stage in her development. How could he have been mistaken?

"You are certain?" he growled.

"Never more so, Commander," his Second confirmed, and Todd reached out to touch his Second's mind, to take the discovery from his memory, "but if you wish to see for yourself—"

"That will not be necessary," he said, withdrawing the mental touch, his irritation and disquiet mounting. He could only speculate that due to her proximity to him, and his to the Elder Queen, who attempted to quell her own Zenith in order to wait for The Abomination's acquiescence, the concentration of pheromones had pushed the younger queen's cycle out of due alignment with her own development.

"Then you will stay?"

Growling softly he answered, "No. The matter that I must attend to cannot wait."

"But the Queen," his Second protested.

"Will not suffer unduly for want of a few days in wait for her Commander," Todd hissed, advancing once more on his Second. "If it becomes a problem for the others of this Hive then evidently they have forgotten what it means to be Wraith and will be treated accordingly!"

He leaned in closer to his Second, dripping threat on every syllable of his words and from every pore of his being. He would, if he had to, demonstrate his sincerity to this Wraith, though he was loathe to destroy such a loyal Second as this one had been. They complemented each other well.

"It shall be as you desire, Commander," his Second said quickly.

"Good," Todd said, straightening up and preparing to complete his path across the breezeway, to take his Dart and return to the Elder Hive once more.

"May I enquire—" his Second began, and Todd stopped again.

"Speak," he ordered.

"When might we expect your return? And in the meantime what should be done about the Humans?"

Todd tilted his head back and forth a time or two as he considered the question.

"In a day or so," he said. "I will return via the last portal before the space beyond the portal network. As for the Humans, continue to monitor Sheppard. If his condition worsens, bring the doctor to alleviate his symptoms. Otherwise, she is to remain in the laboratory."

His Second bowed his head in acceptance of his orders, which Todd was gratified to see. It went some way to quell the unease growing in his belly. Some way, but did not soothe his worries entirely.

**

The Elder Hive was a seething, boiling mess of heightened emotions and barely controlled sensuality. It was almost painful and the Hive Second moved with a pace and ferocity that betrayed his scarcely held temper.

The Hive's atmosphere extended even to the Lower Station, where it lay like a miasma over the quarters and the inhabitants there. As soon as he entered the outer corridors, worshippers scurried away, blending into shadows, or disappearing into doorways to put a bulkhead between them and the high ranking Wraith.

In the outer corridors it did not bother him overmuch, as he doubted he would find the one he sought among those of lesser rank among the worshippers, and those that were not among the Pureborn. However, when he reached the inner chambers of the Lower Station, and the worshippers failed to respond to his presence as they should have done, the thin veneer he had erected around his mood shattered.

He reached out and grasped the nearest Handler by the scruff of his neck, lifting him from the ground as he pulled him closer.

"Get them all out here!" he ordered, the triple tone of his voice rolling like a wave over the man as he all but dropped the unfortunate man.

The Handler fell instantly to one knee, blotting at his nose with the back of his hand, that came away red with his blood. Still, he called out a single word, and with only a short delay, the shadows resolved into the terrified figures of the Elder Hive's worshipper population.

The Hive Second walked the line of the assembled worshippers, dismissing the men with an impatient wave of his hand within line of sight of their downcast eyes, and examining the women with the eyes of memory.

_He tilted his head as he regarded the scene below, trying to take account, to form an opinion of this prisoner they now called 'The Abomination' and to make sense of all he knew of this Hive, its commanders… this Queen and her self serving plans for the future._

_"I don't understand," The young worshipper's voice was light, trembled slightly as she spoke to the creature to whom she had been given in service. "It does you no good to ignore your hunger. How will you heal?"_

_"Is that what you really want?" the creature answered her, and turned his head slowly towards her. She backed up a step. "For me to feed on you; take your life?"_

_"It is what he wants," she answered, "what has been asked of me in service of my Queen."_

It was not long before he saw her, eyes downcast as they should be, her light brown hair swept back and held in a single clasp behind her head. Her hands trembled as she clasped them in front of her, ready at a moment's notice to offer herself to whichever Wraith should demand it of her.

As he came to a halt in front of her, he did not miss the way that she flicked her eyes up for just a second to take in the sight of him; the way her hands twitched as though to move to take the sides of her blouse into her fingers – all as it should be.

"Walk with me," he said almost softly, holding out a hand in her direction.

_{walk with me} {with me} {with me}_

Her hand, when it met with his was cold, and trembled as he drew her away from the others. She glanced at the Handler, still on his knees in front of the line of worshippers.

"You do not need to look to him," the Hive Second told her, drawing her further away from her companions, toward the corridors that led away from the Lower Station. He carefully transferred the hand he still held to his leather clad forearm, and did not speak again until he felt they were far enough away from the Lower Station that they would not be overheard. Softly he said, "Tell me, child, what is it that you fear will happen to you?"

"I… do not know, Lord," she answered at once, glancing at him. "I… failed in my task…. I did not… persuade M— the creature to feed on me, I—"

"Her wishes, not mine," he interrupted softly.

"Lord?" She looked at him then, and he noticed with wry amusement that, in her shock at him speaking out against the Queen, even in such a small way, she had forgotten to keep her gaze downcast, and regarded him openly. He tilted his head, not at all reprimanding her. After another moment she dared to ask, "What are… your wishes then?"

The Hive Second let out a long, slow hiss, pushing away the immediate answer that sprang into his mind as he walked with the young woman through the corridors of the Hive. Such a thing would be only reflex, instinct borne of the unrest, of the Queen's Zenith that sent crushing waves through the minds and senses of all aboard her Hive. Even if he were to seek relief in this young one, it would be momentary – temporary – not until the Queen herself received the neutralising enzyme from her commander would the effect fade, and the Hive return to normal.

The girl's hand trembled against his arm and he realised he had not answered her and so quietly, he said, "Knowledge… understanding."

"Of what, Lord?" she asked.

"Tell me – of what have you and the former Wraith scientist spoken?"

"Not, _The Abomination_?" she said.

The Hive Second chuckled. "It would seem you have developed a certain fondness for that one," he said.

"He has suffered greatly in his resistance against—" the young woman began to explain.

"A foolish gesture that will earn him nothing but a long, slow death," the Hive Second snapped, and growling he turned to corner the girl against one of the bulkhead walls. He leaned down to her, his manner changing like the coming of a summer storm, and snarled, "Tell me everything… and live."

**

Ronon came to a halt beside the Gate, tired and more worried than ever. Even talking through half of the night with Raisa, neither of them had come any closer to deciding where Teyla might have gone. He was no clearer now as to where to look as he had been when he came.

"Ronon," Raisa called to him softly as he approached the DHD. He turned to her and waited while she approached him. "You_ will_ come and tell me when you find her, won't you?"

Ronon put his hands on her shoulders, "Of course I will, Raisa. I know how important she is to you, and how much she values you as a friend. When we find her, I'll tell you… hey, I'll even bring her to visit, how's that?"

Raisa smiled, and reached up to cup his cheek briefly in one of her hands. "Thank you. I would appreciate that very much."

"Be safe," Ronon said softly, feeling a pang of added worry turn his belly as he prepared to leave such a gentle woman and her daughter, a girl full of life and energy and innocence alone on the planet – fearing that nowhere was safe from the Wraith, wondering if – for Teyla's sake, he should bring them with him, back to Atlantis – or at least bring them to the Athosian settlement where they would be among others that would help to protect them.

"And you, Ronon Dex," Raisa told him. "May the blessing of the Ancestors go with you."

She lowered her head then, waiting for him to touch his forehead to hers. Her serenity in doing so touched him deeply, calmed him for the time they shared the parting gesture.

He took a deep breath, and finally dialled Atlantis.

**

He stopped just inside the door, and tilted his head, sensing her, tasting her scent in the air before he saw her, curled on the cot at the side of the laboratory. Frowning in concern he keyed the door lock and began to cross the room.

As he came closer he saw that she must have been here for some time, waiting for him, and had fallen into a light doze. He dropped to one knee beside the cot and reached for her.

"Todd?" she woke before he could lay a hand to her arm, and started to sit up, unsteady in her sleepy state.

"Yes, Alicia, I am here," he said softly. "Did something happen?"

"I didn't feel safe," she told him. "Hanna… and then the Commander, I… he…"

"You are not making sense, my dear," Todd purred, and looked her over in concern, looking for any signs of injury or hurt. "What did the Hive Commander do?"

"Nothing," Vega took a deep breath, obviously trying to steady herself. "It's just that Hanna was saying he would come for her, and—"

"To your quarters?" Todd asked, frowning, when she nodded, at the clear breech in protocol. Worshipper came to Wraith, not the other way around. It was quite obviously a message, not so subtly sent. Todd took a deep breath, and let it out in a long, slow growl, his decision falling into place, featherlike, and drifting.

"Then you must stay here," he said, beginning to rise to his feet, "and I will make it known that I _sent_ for you."

**

Alicia got up too, blushing a little bit, "But—" she began, and then swallowed hard as Todd reached out and ran the tips of his fingers over the side of her neck.

"But?" he purred, and she felt the colour rushing to her face.

He looked up at her then, and her blush deepened as she realised the querying motion of his head was to express his confusion at the redness in her cheeks.

She shook her head and started to rise, but, distracted, stumbled. Before she knew anything else, Todd's hands closed around her elbows, supportive, holding her steady until she found her own balance.

"Perhaps it is time, my little Alicia," he murmured softly.

"Time?" she whispered, almost fearful of what he meant.

He seemed to hesitate, withdraw a little, though he said in the same soft tones, "Allow me to see you to your rest," before beginning, almost gently, to lead her toward his private quarters, only to halt as they reached the doorway.

"Aren't you—?" she started to ask as he let go of her elbow and had perhaps stepped back. She felt suddenly chilled, suddenly wanting him to stay.

"I will rest," he assured her, an almost-smile on his face at what he must have thought of as her concern for him, "but perhaps it would be better if I were to do so here."

He inclined his head toward the lab's cot, where she had fallen asleep waiting for him.

"Please, Todd," she said, and reached for his hand. "I don't want to be by myself."

**

So, she felt it too and was, rightly, afraid. Still though, he had sensed her fear and uncertainty concerning advancing their closeness beyond the hesitant acceptance of his careful overtures toward her, and he had made a promise to her, of sorts, had named himself as different to other Wraith and now, of all times, was the time to prove to her the truth of his words.

As she took his hand, though, as her cool fingers settled on the sensitivity at his wrist, the tide of instinct that he had been working so hard to hold back, threatened to overcome him. He had told her he would go no further than she would allow, but… perhaps it would do no harm to push, even if slightly.

"Ah, my Alicia," he purred and stepped slowly over the threshold of the doorway. "To think, all this time I have left you feeling alone… vulnerable."

"Not always," she told him. She looked up at him as he stepped closer; raised the hand he still held to his lips and almost delicately grazed the palm of it with his sharp teeth. He pushed lightly at her mind, seeking admittance; to understand.

He all but tasted the rush of sensation that raced along the nerves of her arm at the gesture; clearly heard her soft, gasped intake of breath, and could tell, as he breathed in deeply of the air around them, the instant her body's response to his nearness began.

**

She gasped as his teeth scraped against her hand and sent a tingling rush along her arm to stir a sudden, frantic fluttering in her chest, and needing to feel the reality of the moment, reached up to rest her other hand against the warmed leather of his coat.

He growled, soft and low, almost chuckling, and she frowned in query.

"The gesture," he told her, and the warmth of his large hand covered hers as he continued, "is almost like one between Wraith; acceptance…"

_~acceptance~ ~acceptance~ ~acceptance~_

His voice echoed in her mind with a warm sensuality that left her shivering, almost alive with it.

"But I do, I—"

She broke off as he moved her hand beneath his own, toward the buckle of his coat, bringing the other down from where he held her fingers close to the warmth of his breath to join the first; prove her words and as she began to fumble at the buckle, he let go and encircled her with his arms. His fingers trailed lightly over her back, where the dress she wore left her skin exposed.

His touch, as close as he was, drew a deeper aching still from within her, to tremble through her muscles, answered by her trembling as she unfastened the buckle, his coat, and slipped her suddenly cold hands inside its shielding warmth, upwards to find his shoulders, beneath the leather.

An equilibrium of tension; of nervous excitement snapped as she pushed at the coat, and he leaned down suddenly to capture her lips in a deep, consuming kiss.

A rush of spicy, almost cinnamon scent and taste flooded through her as his tongue, as if seeking to know all of her, plundered her mouth. She made fists of her hands around the warmed cloth of his undershirt as he shrugged off the heavy battle-coat and tossed it, effortlessly and without breaking the kiss, to land on the top of one of the nearby chairs. She moaned into the kiss. A flaring of passion, almost terrifying in its intensity flooded her and she began to feel light-headed from it, and from the lack of oxygen in her lungs. She gripped more tightly to his shirt, opening to his even deeper kiss, before, gasping his name she tore her lips from his. Already they were swollen from the intensity of their kiss.

**

He growled softly as she tore away from him, gasping for breath and took many deep calming breaths to drive back the rising of his passions, crooning on the last of those, a deeply sexual whisper, "Ah-licia…"

She shivered in his arms and tried to hide her face against his chest, but he caught her cheek against his hand, his thumb beneath her chin to bring her eyes to his. Her pupils were wide, her eyes dark with desire, and the scent of her arousal bit deeply into the core of his sensory receptors. He had no reason to doubt her willingness, yet still he asked, "If you are in any way… uncertain, still…"

Her fluttering hand settled briefly against his lips, halting his words. Deliberately slowly he drew one of her fingers into his mouth, holding it almost delicately between his teeth, teasing her with the motion of his tongue.

She moaned in answer and with another soft, sensual growl, he lifted her into his arms, and crossed the room to settle them both against the wide, comfortable surface of his bed.

He felt the tightening ache of his own arousal increase as her arms clasped him almost desperately as he set her down, kicked off his boots, and moved to settle beside her, and as much as he was more than ready to lose himself in this woman, this little Lantean diversion – his concubine – he knew he must yet proceed with care.

Bending his head to kiss and then to nip lightly at the side of her neck, he murmured, "I will not harm you, my _parmhuna._"

**

_~parmhuna~ ~parmhuna~ ~parmhuna~_

She felt as though she was drowning in him, unable to move or to breathe save to grip tightly to the side of his shirt as he settled against her. The word echoed in her mind as the sensual neural caresses moved over and through her. At the same time he eased her to lie back beside him, his lips and teeth at her neck, nipping lightly at first but with growing fervour as the moments passed.

As the bites became harder, driving an exquisite, sharp pain along the pathway of some nerve, she felt her nipples harden against the fabric that lay between the touch of Todd's cool skin and her own heated flesh. His palms pressed her breasts as though he sensed the change in her and wished to better feel those hardened nubs, the proof of her desire, her need, and following the path of the nerve he began a slow descent of kiss and bite against the exposed skin of her chest, his hands, nails trailing light scratches over her, moved to grasp the tight velveteen cloth and heedless of the tearing fabric, to push it aside; free her from the constriction of it.

The rush of cooler air against her breasts further peaked her nipples to harder, almost painful bundles of nerves, and she cried out with the shock of sensation that went through her as his lips closed around a nipple, drawing her into his mouth, to nip with teeth and flicker the soothing balm of his tongue against the sharpness of the bites. Her back arched as she sought both to escape the too-sweet assault and bring him closer to her all at once. Her hands, once fists against his back, opened and then her fingers grasped at him, digging her nails into him through the shirt.

As he raised his head to look at her, she moaned softly at the cessation of the feelings he was bringing her.

"Take it off," he commanded softly, tilting his head and capturing her eyes with his. She found herself falling into them… her breathing quickening… her mind spinning, becoming dizzy.

"Todd," she whispered.

"Take it off," he repeated, and leaned up just enough that her trembling hands could lift the bottom edge of the shirt and ease the garment over his head.

She couldn't help but gasp at the sight of his broad chest, the grey-green Wraith colouration seemed, somehow, to accentuate the definition of each individual muscle, and her eyes feasted on them, every one… gliding over his pectorals, and the hard, toned shape of each of his abs.

Over the surface of his chest, beginning at his left shoulder, was a delightfully complex angular burst of lines and symbols that descended over his sternum to burst over his belly in an ancient tribal symbol of strength, matched and continued down the length of his right arm. He chuckled slightly, took one of her hands, and kissing the palm, placed her fingers against his chest.

She almost snatched her hand away at the rumbling which began in him as she started to follow the path of her gaze with the touch of her hand, and barely felt the tickling trail of fabric that teased its way upward on the side of her leg. His muscles danced in response to her fingers, his breathing quickened and his soft growls rumbled through where the skin of his chest brushed against hers, as he turned toward her a little more, his leather clad knee an insistent pressure against her own as he mingled their lower limbs, and parted her legs to the brush of his fingers against her inner thigh, in the moment her hand brushed the waistband of his pants.

"Oh God!" She snatched a breath as his touch sent a flush of spiralling heat straight to the swollen, aching space not that much higher on her body than his touch. Relentless he continued to lightly scratch and stroke against the tender skin of her thigh, turning his head slightly to watch the almost lazy pass of his hand. She trembled against him, making a claw of her hand against the back of his shoulder as the sensations became overwhelming, almost painful with the need for something more – a brightness that she could not reach.

"We are," he murmured teasingly, returning the attentions of his lips and teeth to the side of her neck and the top of her shoulder, "somewhat… overdressed, my little Alicia."

She moaned in answer, drawing a light chuckle from him against her shoulder, before he moved away, not far, but enough to ease her to sitting so that he could reach the fastening on the dress – a redundant notion, she thought, since it was already ripped and would need to be replaced. All coherent thought was wiped away with the swirling cool of the Hive's atmosphere that suddenly wrapped itself around her nakedness. She heard the flutter of fabric as he tossed the remains of her dress away and tilted his head as his eyes took in the sight of her.

**

He growled.

Her pale, unblemished skin accented the dark triangle of body hair that graced the space at the apex of her legs, which already glistened with the sign of her readiness; in acceptance of him. The scent of her arousal, maddeningly sweet and musky, brought him to new heights of tension in his already hypersensitive sensual state.

He reached for her hand as she moved as though to cover herself from his sight, brought her chilled fingers back to the waistband of his pants, a tacit instruction, the best he could manage as he fought to control the predatory nature of his sexuality. Even so he breathed her in again, filling himself with the scent of her, as he meant to fill her with the essence of himself.

He tipped his head, sensual, snakelike first one way and then the other, and breathed her name amid the rising of his mating hiss. "Alicia…" and moving her hand beneath his, unfastened each catch on his pants.

As she tried to ease her hand away from him, he caught her wrist and brought the trembling fingers to meet with the scalding risen heat of his need; the length of him hard beneath the touch of her hand.

"Know me…" he instructed, as he released her, and moved to ease the leather away from the rest of his body, revealing his flesh to her.

The answering sound she made was soft and light, and once more roused him toward instinct rather than control.

**

Her stomach clenched, part way between excitement, fear and intense need as her fingers brushed against his erection; the differences between Wraith and Human immediately obvious even by touch. It both frightened and aroused her more to think of what was to come.

Her breath came in trembling snatches as she ran her fingertips along the length of him, as growing bold she flattened her hand against him, running the many ridges over her palm and circling his wide girth with her fingers.

He hissed her name as she slowly mapped him with her touch, from base toward the tip of him, and as her fingers grazed the smoother head of his member, she felt the stirring of movement, and finally bold, began to tip her head to try and see.

She gasped, momentarily fearful as he suddenly caught her by the throat to bring her lips upward to meet his waiting, passionate kiss, then moaned again, a long, slow moan, deep and needful as his fingers trailed down over her breasts and stomach, skirting her pubis, to tease once more against her inner thighs, rolling to cover one side of her, his knee coming to rest between hers, opening her to his coming touch.

**

The long, deep kiss burned through him, stealing his breath and threatening his control. Already he could feel the rage of instinct, his body answering the call of that one, tiny strand within hers and he fought to control it. He wanted her, would sate their mutual passions, gladly and with infinite satisfaction but he would not – _would not _– surrender himself to that part of him… not yet… not until he could be sure…

"Parmhuna," he whispered, sibilant against her neck as he broke the kiss, and lowered his lips to the side of her, toward her shoulder, to take in the scent of her need, comingled with the tang of his own, as her hand still moved over him, drawing out the facilitating enzyme. He reached for her hand, drew it away from his length and entwined their fingers, pressing the back of her hand to the bed, and shifting his kisses, and the nipping of his teeth to the inside of her wrist and arm. He moved further over her, to trap himself against her hip, barely moving, and crept the teasing touch he made against her thigh still higher, feeling the heat of her against his fingers before ever he touched her.

Almost delicately he parted the dewy folds of her body, sliding his fingers gently back and forth over the smooth softness of her, teasing at the bundle of nerves, risen to a peak at his touch with a light squeeze between finger and thumb. Her back arched, moving her hip against his length drawing a growl from him to answer the high pitched gasp she gave to his caresses.

As he teased and circled the entry to her body's core with knowing fingers, he lowered his head to nip at the soft skin of her breast, to take her nipple into his mouth and nip and lick until she cried his name and arched again to catch, and to escape, both touches. Cautiously he pushed at her mind, barely opening to her as he teased and caressed and maddeningly slowly, for he wanted to feel the muscles at her core tense in Human instinct, he began to ease his questing touch within.

"Todd, wait! Wait!" she gasped.

Realisation flared within his mind as her whole body reacted to the touch, and his sensitive fingertips felt the resistant membrane, soft to his touch. Still stroking softly, and feeling an answering easing of the tension, he raised his head to look at her and asked softly, "I am… your first, Parmhuna?"

**

Vega nodded, hiding her face against his shoulder, still breathing hard, still half lost in the spiralling feelings his touches stirred in her.

Her neck and shoulders ached from his nips and deep, marking kisses, her tender breasts ached for more of the same, and the pulsing wave of almost painfully desperate need flowed in and around the space invaded by the touch of his long fingers… _almost_ sharp, _almost_ uncomfortable… but sweet sensation all the same.

"Look at me, Alicia," his voice rumbled through her, but she could not. "Look at me."

_~look at me~ ~at me~ ~at me~_

She felt the spiralling of need inside of her increasing at the touch of his thumb against the tender nub at her centre while his fingers barely moved inside of her. His mind pushed almost gently at hers, encouragement rather than command, and slowly, almost reluctantly she raised her eyes to his.

The moment her eyes met his they locked and she felt his movements increase, barely at first, and then slowly greater as his touch moved deeper, teasing, enlivening. Emotion wound around and around in her mind until she was dizzy with it, and with the sensations flowing from that touch, that twisted tighter and tighter around her, subsuming the control of each muscle in her body until she was trembling and weak from the tension of it, needing release, wanting freedom from the exquisite torture he was giving to her… reaching for a peak until… he moved the caress away.

"Todd," she gasped, "please…"

"Trust me, my little Alicia," he breathed against her lips as already he was moving to gather her beneath him, supporting himself on one arm as he slipped the other beneath the small of her back, gathering her close, until she felt his heat against the ache at her centre, pulsing slightly at the circle of her core.

Trembling, she kissed him, and he took her lower lip between his teeth and nipped at the swollen sensitivity until she moaned softly against his mouth, and opened to the deep kiss he shared with her, tongues sparring in their mutually rising needs.

**

Growling softly, he moved to bring them together, breathing out in a long, slow hiss as she began to sheathe him, and winding their minds more strongly together, opening himself to her fully, he lifted her slightly, tilting her hips. Drawing away just barely he held himself in a moment of stillness before he sank into her core, feeling her tightness around him, incensed by the fire it ignited in him, pure instinct that he captured and exorcised in another, deep, almost guttural growl.

He felt the resistance of her body against him as he entered her more deeply, and the answering contraction of her muscles around him, as holding her close, he let his weight settle over her – taking her completely.

She cried out, and he took her cry and the momentary stab of pain inside himself, answering her with his growing pleasure at being so fully enfolded in her softness. He breathed in deep of the scent of them, no longer two, but one – their arousal as sweet a sharpness as the pain that coursed through his pleasure – and comingled with new, copper scent of the moment that none could ever take from them.

**

The cry she gave was deep and primal as he possessed her fully, as he entered her body in one slow, smooth stroke. The pain of it sharpened all of the spiralling pleasures into a single point, an ache that sat at the middle of her very being and began to contract, sharpen with the pass of each ridge of his member inside of her, until at last he stilled, but for the pulsing now deep in her core.

The press of his mind became dizzying once more, pushing within as the pulse against her core increased. She felt her vision blurring, her inner vision opening to the flicker of an image, a feeling… a thought not her own. It was a dazzling spiral, a sunburst, the heat of primal explosion that left her breathless and tingling, and then he began to move.

She cried out again, another deep and primal cry and wrapped her arms around him, though whether to try and hold him back or draw him closer she was not certain. He pushed against her and the deep, tight ache, the sharp stab of pain began to blur and transform again to the breathlessness of need, desire. She parted her thighs to allow him closer, drawing him to her with the claws she made of her fingers at his back, her nails drawing lines over the ridges of his spine.

She saw and felt the gathering redness, a light and heat travelling toward a single point, inside her; inside him, and yet still somewhere outside of both of them. Her breath came in snatches now, as his movements increased, as his length caressed her deeper inside, the ridges teasing at the most sensitive nerves with every stroke, her muscles bunched against him with each movement within. Each sound he made, each hiss, or growl, each snarling moan of pleasure travelled through her to settle in the bright knot forming inside her; in the gathering heat in her mind.

Lost in her growing need, in the press of his mind in hers, the inner sharing that matched and intensified the outer, Alicia began to move with him more fully, matching his rise and fall into her with her own, and welcomed the added ache inside of her, at her core. The burning inside of her now was so hot, so intense and focussed that she could feel only the need for life, to burst open and apart, to fill the spiralling darkness that surrounded the bright edges of their conjoined desire with the light she knew would come from it.

She could feel the tightness inside of him, the ache in him and the gathering of his own passions, she squeezed herself tighter around him, drawing another deep primal growl that started the trembling in her muscles, and drew a sudden sheen of perspiration over her entire body, to mingle with his, and with the fluids of their bodies, his enzymes – her blood and risen dewy desire.

Her heartbeat faltered, fluttering in her chest, and with a sudden snarling, Todd thrust hard against her, inside her, and she bucked her hips to meet with his, and for but a single moment, everything stopped… and then he burst inside her and she shattered for him… crying out again as all sensation sped to every nerve, every fibre that she was, consuming everything she was, or could ever hope to be…

_The red star burst, a nova destroying those worlds close by, a bright flash in the sky of a darkening world… there was pain, shared, passed into the memory of the one that squeezed to life from between her thighs – _her_ thighs? The cry of the birthing infant lost in the dying moan of its host._

Silence fell over the private quarters, punctuated only by the frantic gasping breaths she took in the aftermath of the shared climax that had shaken her to the core.

She felt the touch of his mind ease, loosen. He did not fully leave her, but wrapped the single word into her awareness.

_~parmhuna~ ~parmhuna~ ~parmhuna~_

She closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing…

_... and in her mind the clear image of a bright red flash in an otherwise dark sky… _

…instead, Alicia Vega wept.


	4. Act 4

Stargate Atlantis

**Deliverance**

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

**Act 4**

Sheppard's breathing was laboured as he tried to get up from the bench and McKay hurried to his side.

"Easy, Sheppard," he said, taking the other man's arm in support.

"Easy?" Sheppard rasped, pulling his arm from McKay's grasp. "I've been _easy_ almost from the minute we came aboard this miserable Hive, and now I think it's way past time we knew what's going on!"

"Well," McKay glanced toward the door and then looked down to the floor for a moment as he considered the changed cadence of the vibrations he could feel coming from the deck plating. Finally, he offered, "We've dropped out of hyperspace."

"Congratulations, Genius," Sheppard answered, his voice was heavy with sarcasm. "How long did it take for you to work _that_ out?"

"Look, Sheppard," he snapped, "I may not have all the answers, or—"

"You don't have _any_ of the answers, McKay," Sheppard snapped, "You haven't even been able to pick up a single lousy breadcrumb from the computer about where we're going or what Todd's working on with Keller, beside the cure for the fucking retrovirus!"

Sheppard threw out his arms as if to underline that he referred to the transformation that was still little more than halted in its tracks in spite of alleged efforts to reverse its effects.

"Erm, hello," McKay spat the vitriol of bitter sarcasm at Sheppard in return. "I _told_ you, this is Todd's ship. He _knows_ how I work. We've worked together. He's protected every vulnerability I know how to exploit."

"Oh, come on, McKay." Sheppard leaned heavily against a console and McKay gave a moment's thought to going to help him. "You're the _man_. You can get around his… Wraith Kung Fu."

"No," McKay said resentfully. "I can't."

**

Sheppard was about to argue when the door behind him opened and Jennifer's voice sounded, shrill with concern.

"Sheppard!" she said, "John, you shouldn't be up. You need to be resting."

Before he could answer, one of her hands closed around his arm and her other arm came to rest supportively across his lower back. She began to lead him back towards the low cot.

"Jennifer," he protested, "I'm fine, honestly, and I can't just… lie around here—"

A burst of gut-wrenching fire knotted around his belly, belying his words as he all but doubled over.

"Fine, huh?" Keller demanded, supporting him as she lowered him back down to the relative softness of the cot. "John, I know this is frustrating for you, but I promise you, Todd is working to find a way to neutralise this and—"

"Where?" Sheppard cut her off, trying by sheer force of will to banish the pain. "Haven't seen him for weeks."

"He's still… running back and forth between ships," Keller answered, "And when he's back here…"

Sheppard frowned as Keller trailed off.

"What are you two working on?" he asked, still frowning, perhaps more deeply as she began bustling into action, checking his pulse and preparing another dose of whatever serum Todd had them pumping into him. "Jennifer?"

"What?" she started, as if she had been miles away. "Oh, the problem of the Hoffan Syndrome, mostly."

"It's a syndrome now?" Sheppard asked. He watched the way she carefully avoided stretching too far; carried herself as if in protection of some injury he couldn't see.

"Jennifer, are you okay?"

Sheppard felt relieved that he wasn't the only one that had noticed something was amiss when McKay cut in with the question.

"You know, if Todd is mistreating you," Sheppard added, meaning to suggest that he could have a word with their Wraith host.

**

"No, no, no," Jennifer said hurriedly. "I'm fine, he's fine – just… busy working."

"Jennifer," Sheppard said, and there was a warning in his voice that managed also to convey his concern. "If there's something going on…"

"John," Jennifer said. She wanted to tell him she was fine, that there was nothing wrong, but a prickling heat rushed in behind her eyes and she ended up fighting unshed tears that suddenly threatened to overwhelm her; drag her down into the murky depths of her acquiescent complicity and drown her in it. Instead of reassuring Sheppard, she gasped, "I can't—"

"Ah, Doctor Keller," Todd's voice, already sounding from half way into the room had her all but jump to her feet and try to move away from the colonel, only Sheppard caught her hand, keeping her near. "My Second informed me that I might find you here."

She didn't miss the displeased, possessive glint burning in his golden eyes, and quickly disengaged Sheppard's touch from her hand. Todd continued as though nothing were wrong.

"Is everything all right?"

"No, everything is _not_ all right," Sheppard snapped before she could answer, and in spite of his obvious pain, he sat up, climbed to his feet and put himself between her and Todd. He wavered slightly, but continued unabated. "A member of my team is being kept in isolation from her companions, is obviously unhappy and—"

Jennifer almost panicked when she saw Todd's face darken, the anger she had come to recognise now clear in his eyes.

"John," she said, laying a brief touch onto his arm before moving around him to come nearer to Todd's side. "Please, you need to rest." To Todd, she added, "I have concerns that John's not responding to the counter-serum as he should be."

"Indeed," Todd purred, and took a step toward Sheppard. Sheppard glared at him, not backing down in the face of Todd's intimidating stride. With equal but soft menace, he said, "John Sheppard, I can assure you that Doctor Keller is being afforded every respect due to her position." Jennifer did not miss the challenge, or the implied threat in his voice as he went on. "I thought you understood that the location of her quarters was merely a matter of convenience."

"Cut the crap, Todd," Sheppard said harshly. "We both know there's more going on than that!"

"Do we?" Todd rumbled, his golden eyes fixed, Jennifer saw, on the angry blue of Sheppard's own. After another moment, however, as if shrugging off the challenge to his authority, Todd spread his arms.

"Either way," he said more brightly, "We have arrived at our destination and I believe here may be the answer to a multitude of our questions; the solution to many of our problems."

Surprising Jennifer, Todd abruptly turned his attention from Sheppard to face McKay, who had inched his way closer to her. The Canadian scientist stood almost at her shoulder.

"Doctor McKay," he said sharply, "I will require your assistance."

"My assistance?" McKay stammered, taking a step back. "But—"

"We are currently in a geo-stationary orbit around a planet far outside of the network of portals, and—"

"Beyond the Stargates?" McKay interjected. "Are you kidding me?"

"I assure you, Doctor, I rarely joke about such matters," Todd growled softly in answer. "We are here because I believe we will find those answers of which I spoke in an abandoned facility belonging to the one you call Michael."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sheppard took a step forward and planted a hand squarely against Todd's chest.

"Michael led you here?" Jennifer said, voicing the alarm she felt.

Todd looked first at her, then at Sheppard, before pointedly lowering his gaze to the colonel's hand splayed against the leather of his coat until Sheppard removed the touch. He answered none of them.

Keller's mind was racing. Of course it made perfect sense on the one hand, to seek answers from the demesne of the one who had unleashed the Hoffan Syndrome on the Pegasus galaxy, on the other…

"You do realise," Sheppard said, "that this is a really bad idea?"

Todd merely growled softly and the knot in the pit of Jennifer's belly tightened.

"You know as well as we do that he puts in a failsafe at all of his facilities," McKay protested, "besides which, if this is an abandoned facility, he would already have destroyed any data left behind. He's… even more paranoid than you in—"

"This place isn't quite as abandoned as you want us to believe," Sheppard accused.

"Mmm, I may have… exaggerated a little in that regard," Todd said, his voice almost sing-song in quality, but the tension in the room increased exponentially, and Jennifer wanted nothing more than to turn tail and run back to the lab.

"Todd," Sheppard grumbled.

Todd's patience finally snapped, as Jennifer expected it would and he roared at Sheppard.

"Do you want to find a cure for your condition or not?" he demanded.

"Yes," Sheppard said, his own voice, behind the strain of his discomfort, overly patient, in counterpoint to the Wraith's.

"Then I require Doctor McKay's assistance, and time is something of which we have very little!"

"Rodney?" Sheppard asked.

"All right," McKay said, and behind her, Jennifer felt him take another step closer, before his hand gently brushed against the small of her back.

It was supposed to be a supportive gesture, she knew, but against the backdrop of the barely contained tempers and the tension in the atmosphere, it only added to her disquiet. Subtly she moved away, retreating to put herself level with the man. She gave him a wan smile and tried to cover by saying, "Just try not to get us blown up this time, huh?"

**

The Hive Second sat perfectly still but for the slow, measured breaths that brought the steady rise and fall of his chest. Had anyone entered his quarters they might have mistaken him for a perfectly sculpted example of a Wraith statue.

His eyes were fixed on the figure occupying his bed. She lay unmoving, finally at rest after several days of fevered pain through which he had alternately nursed her, and smothered her mind under the pressure of his own into a healing lack of consciousness when his duties took him elsewhere.

His mind was nowhere near as still. He constantly reviewed and shifted pieces of information from many sources, as if trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle. The latest pieces of his puzzle came from the young worshipper he had interrogated. The former Wraith scientist had made her take a sample of his blood and had instructed her in the use of imaging equipment. Why? Did he think to instruct the human in the reversal of what the Queen's Scientist had wrought on his body? Certainly the creature had fought the transformation; fought being returned to what he had once been.

_Far too simple…_

He kept his thoughts to himself, but was curious as to why the young human woman that had been so cruelly brought to this creature, with no more intention than to be something on which he could feed – unusual in itself that the Queen's scientist had chosen a woman for such a task – had developed such feelings of sympathy, beyond the instruction she had clearly been given to see to the creature's needs. He could only conclude that the Queen's scientist had another agenda in mind where his former rival was concerned, but what, and where was that scientist now?

Movement from his bed drew his mind back to the moment, and he rose smoothly to his feet to cross the room to where his body servant was stirring. Carefully he lowered himself to sit on the side of the bed, and reached out a long fingered hand to brush back the tangle of hair from her face, almost tenderly running his fingers down her cheek afterwards.

"Lord?" she whispered as she woke, her voice broken by the obvious dryness in her throat.

"Peace, Isla," he said softly. "You were unwell."

"Forgive me, Lor—"

He shook his head, cutting off her words.

_{you have seen how I am called} {how I am called} {I am called} {why do you not?} {do you not?} {not?}_

"I am unable," she murmured.

For a moment he closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, memory rushing in hard on the heels of her words.

_As Isla stumbled out of the compound, stumbling out of the smoke and acrid atmosphere toward the mouth of the rocky complex that housed the living quarters, he snatched at her arm as she would have fallen, and she cried out in pain. Already he felt the palm of his hand wet with her blood as her skin cracked under the touch._

_"What have you done?" he demanded, angry in his worry for her, and in the near delirium of her injuries she lay open to him, her pain winding around him and through him like a ribbon. He could feel the weakening beat of her heart as the poison that infused her blood rushed through it; felt her body beginning to shut down._

_"They were dying," she implored him, desperation lending her strength. "I couldn't just leave them… there was no one else."_

_The sounds of alarm had come hours before, as he had been supervising the creation of another of the new ships that would carry them onward into the future their Matron Queen had seen for them. A fire had broken out in the nursery where the Queen's precious young developed and grew. The heat of the flame had melted the organic compound that sheltered them, allowing the atmosphere to flood the chambers, adding further threat to the Wraith young._

_"There was no one else, because it was unsafe!" he snarled in anger, not at Isla, but at the failure of the drones that had been sent in to safeguard the Wraith progeny. "You cannot—"_

_"Please," Isla cried, grabbing the front of his coat with her burned hands, and struggling for breath, clearly mistook his anger. "They were dying!" _

_"And you… risk too much," he growled, lowering her to the ground, supporting her as her knees gave way. He knelt beside her, silently ordering the milling drones to pass the two of them and assist with clearing up in the aftermath of the accident, then before another failing beat of her heart, he ripped the front of her dress and pressed his feeding hand against her chest._

_His head fell back and he snarled, falling into unity with the slight female whose life he safeguarded; who served him well; and giving of himself entirely in the Gift he willingly, and gladly gave to her… _

_::bring her to me:: ::bring her:: ::bring her::_

"Tell me something," he asked into the silence between them before he opened his eyes.

"Anything," she said, and he could hear the emotion, her devotion to him, clear in her voice.

"If I were to bring you to the laboratory of the Queen's former scientist, to bring you to him there; if I were to order you to give yourself to him; allow him to feed on you; see to his care; if you were… witness to his torture; to the breaking of his spirit, how would you comport yourself?"

Opening his eyes he saw that she was struggling to try and sit, and reached out to assist her, closing his fingers around her arms as she swayed with the after effects of the illness and the drugs he had given her to counter her fever and pain.

**

Forgetting herself, Isla leaned against her master, her fingers trembling against his chest, feeling the beat of his heart clearly against her touch through the shirt he wore.

"I don't… understand, Lord," she said softly, raising her face just enough to be able to see his strong jaw. "I would do as you commanded – always."

He drew her back and reached to tilt her head back still further so that her eyes met with the deep gold of his. She gasped softly, reading the mixed emotions she saw there, after so many years of knowing him as she did, seeing as perhaps only she would have seen.

"Has some worshipper disobeyed you, Lord?" she asked softly. She did not wish to disturb the closeness with anything, so rare were these moments, and so cherished.

"No, Isla," he answered softly, "I was curious to understand the motivations of the girl assigned by the Queen's Scientist to… serve the prisoner he has made of the former Wraith."

"Pureborn?" she asked softly.

"Yes," he confirmed.

"Young, you say?" She did not remember him telling her this, but had a feeling of certainty of the truth of it.

The Hive Second smiled, softly, and perhaps she saw a little sadness in his eyes, before he answered, "No, I did not _say_."

Isla blushed, and started to draw herself away from her master. She had crossed a line again – unwittingly perhaps, unintentionally certainly – in drawing an impression from his mind. Sorrow descended over her, like a mist rolling in from the sea at evening and she closed her eyes, shutting out the sight of him.

"Then perhaps it was empathy alone that moved her," she said, trying to keep the gathering sob from her voice. "And youth that prevented her from knowing any better."

_{look at me} {look at me} {look at me}_

"No," she covered her face with her hand, "I cannot."

"Isla, look at me," he commanded softly, and trembling she took down her hand and opened her eyes. "Have I ever once forbidden it?"

"No, Lord," she answered, a pain twisting in her heart as she spoke.

"Then do not trouble yourself," he said softly. "Come. Rest with me."

Even before she nodded, he had gathered her closer still, and lay them both down in the warmth of his bed. Isla sighed, a single tear dropping to stain the shirt he had yet to remove.

**

Jennifer couldn't help but wince at the sound of the Darts flying overhead as they approached the settlement from the landed transport ship that had brought her, Todd, McKay and a number of drones down to the surface of the planet.

The land around them was hilly, and greenish brown grasses and shrub-land stood between them and their destination and the Darts stirred up clouds of obscuring dust as they flew, low level, culling beams setting down Wraith soldiers to begin subduing whatever resistance these people gave to Todd's invasion party. It stirred feelings of nausea in Jennifer to be a part of that – even by association.

As they advanced, the drones surrounding Jennifer moved closer, tightening the defensive shield they made for her, and she could not help but glare up ahead, her eyes boring into the middle of Todd's back, where he strode onward, Doctor McKay almost jogging to keep up with him. How _dare_ Todd treat her as though she were something to be guarded; protected at all costs… as though she could not take care of herself – and she had no doubt that was what he was doing.

"Why the hell is all this necessary anyway?" she demanded, wondering if the sound of her voice would even penetrate through the wall of drones. "I thought we were supposed to be coming here to get into one of Michael's facilities."

Todd abruptly stopped walking, as did the drones, and Jennifer would have collided with the one in front of her, had he not sidestepped to allow his commander access.

"Look around you, Doctor Keller," he purred as he stepped right up to her, causing her to step back. "Tell me what you see."

"I see… grass, and trees and shrugs… and I see a village being attacked by Wraith and—"

Todd growled and stepped forward again, into the circle of drones. Jennifer had nowhere to go, so raised her hands defensively. Todd was so close they came to rest against his chest and she pushed against him, ineffectual as she could not hope to match his physical presence with her human strength. He reached up to cup her elbows in his grasp and she moaned softly…

_He only moved closer, the solid length of his body pressed against hers, behind her, the unyielding workbench in front. The press of his hand lowered the test tube she was clutching to the stand, and then scraped across the backs of her fingers, while he leaned closer still to her neck, his breath travelling over her already enlivened skin as he spoke._

"Have a care, Jennifer," he rumbled as he leaned closer. "One of these days you will go too far and—"

"And you'll what?" Jennifer, angered in spite of the arousal of fear inside of her, pushed against his chest, trying to move him. Continuing she hissed, "Decide I'm too much trouble and feed on me?"

"We are… _allies_," he purred as if amused by her anger, and she shivered at the way he made the word sound as though he had said something else entirely. "Feeding on you would be counterproductive. Besides—"

**

It took McKay several moments before he realised that the striding Wraith was no longer beside him. He skidded to a halt, twisting his head around to try and see his companions – if he dare call them that.

The overhead whine of the Darts was less pronounced now, as if the pattern or purpose of their flight had somehow changed, and he could hear no gunfire from up ahead, within the settlement. He could only conclude that whatever resistance Todd had expected did not exist.

Finally McKay turned around in time to see Todd step closer to Jennifer, grasping her arms, as if in support. Worry instantly gripped almost McKay's entire being. He knew it – she'd got herself sick; working all hours godsend. Todd should have been more careful. She wasn't one of his Wraith. She needed rest.

"Hey!" he called, hurrying back to them. "What's going on?"

"Besides—" Todd said, then turned his head, "Ah, Doctor McKay, I was merely discussing the merits of subduing a human settlement held in servitude by the one you call Michael."

"The one we call—" McKay spluttered in irritation, certain that this was not at all what the Wraith had been _discussing_ with Jennifer, "Why not just call him Michael and have done with it?"

Todd ignored his snippy remark, and that irritated McKay even more as the Wraith continued, "He led me to believe that what we would find here would be immediately remarkable – important even beyond that which we might believe."

"Wait a minute." McKay's irritation was immediately replaced with alarm. "He _led you to believe_? You spoke with him – he told you how to get here?"

Todd swayed his head from side to side, and in a voice that conveyed his complete disinterest in the subject of how he had acquired the information that led them to this location, he said, "During one of our last encounters I managed to persuade him of the… urgency of the revelation, yes."

McKay's eyebrows shot up and he exchanged a glance with Keller, who shook her head, her face creasing in concern. In the next moment Todd continued speaking, his voice, McKay noticed, was rumbling just on the right side of patience.

"How I came by the information is irrelevant, Doctor McKay," he said.

"Irrelevant to you, perhaps," McKay said, his voice rising with his own righteous anger at knowing that the knowledge of Michael's location, which Teyla so desperately sought, was known to this Wraith all along; at least some clue to finding the former Wraith. "But there are people who would very much—"

"Irrelevant!" Todd roared suddenly, releasing Jennifer's arms to round on McKay, causing him to yelp audibly and Jennifer to take a hurried step forward, a trembling hand reaching for Todd's arm. "What matters is that we are here and that we retrieve such data as is necessary to assist in our goals."

"Whatever you say," McKay said hurriedly, the expression on Todd's face scaring him more than a little. He glanced at Keller just as her fingertips brushed against the Wraith's leather clad arm. "Jennifer?"

Keller shook her head, withdrawing her hand as she said, "Let's just… do what we need to do here. People are counting on us, whether they know it or not – including Colonel Sheppard."

McKay looked between Todd and Keller, a frown fixed on his face, and would have reached out to draw the woman to one side if they had not been interrupted by the arrival of one of the Wraith sub-commanders at Todd's shoulder even as the tall, slowly calming Wraith agreed, purring, "Indeed," in response to Jennifer's suggestion.

McKay couldn't help but feel, uncomfortably, that there was more going on; more behind their earnest exchange, than was immediately obvious. For his friends' sakes he meant to find out what that something was.

**

"Sub-Commander," Todd calmed the last of his irritation and invited his underling to speak – not that it was necessary, he could already sense from his subordinate Wraith's mind what news he had come to impart, but for the sake of his Human companions, he made the concession.

"The settlement is subdued, and its people gathered in the main square awaiting your pleasure, Commander," the other Wraith said.

"Excellent," Todd purred, then, fixing a chameleon hint of a smile on his face, he gestured for the small party to advance into the waiting settlement with a wave of his arm. "Shall we, Doctors?"

He couldn't help but find McKay's petulant response irksome as the Human scientist said, "Like we have a choice?" before he began to walk off toward the buildings.

Todd kept his pace to an easy one so that Keller could walk at his side, the tight formation of drones around her easing back slightly at his presence.

"What exactly do you expect to find here," she asked him, keeping a respectful distance between the two of them.

"The prisoners we gathered from among the hybrid creatures created by," he faltered slightly, unable to easily voice the name given to the Abomination by these Humans.

"By Michael," Keller spared him the difficulty. "Go on."

He nodded to her and continued, "Each of the hybrids that I was able to examine had been infected with the Hoffan protein in spite of the Wraith DNA and associated characteristics they possessed."

"The protein _and_ Wraith characteristics in the same body system," Keller's voice showed her surprise. "How is that possible? All our computer modelling has shown that even when both cell types are present, rather than anneal to the Human cells, the Hoffan protein will almost actively seek out and destroy the Wraith cells."

"Indeed, Jennifer," Todd purred, more than gratified that she had immediately seen one of the major points of his belief in the importance of being here. "It is my understanding that the one you call Michael found the key to that dilemma in _this_ place, and that is why we must discover what it is these Humans know."

"And what if they don't know _anything_?" Keller asked warily.

"Oh, they know," Todd purred, "Consciously or not, but they know."

He walked in silence then, taking in what he could see as they entered the village. The buildings held a curious familiarity to him in the way the angles were lost from the normal Human homes, being of a more organic shape, with almost rounded joints and overall shape. It was a familiarity that pricked his spine with discomfort.

_"If you had been anywhere near the planet," the whisper continued, forced and sounding painful, "you would, in no way, casually suggest—"_

_Todd cut him off, leaning down and clamping a hand around his throat._

_"Suppose you tell me. Save me the trouble," he growled, all effort to dissemble gone in a sudden rising irritation._

He tried to shake the feeling away as he reached the central square where the drones and sub-commanders had corralled the people of the settlement. They were standing obediently, not at all fighting, not even really showing much fear of the Wraith surrounding them, in fact, it occurred to Todd suddenly that they reminded him of one of the many settlements of Wraith worshippers… not unlike his own.

After waking, hours before Alicia, and running all of the news he had gleaned on his return to the Elder Queen's Hive the last time, he had realised that he was in error to leave Vega behind – and one that may have cost her life. That he could not countenance, but neither could he bring her to his Hive – not with Sheppard and McKay aboard. It had been no great leap in thinking to decide to leave her in the relative safety of his own community of worshippers, at least until he was able to see to her protection personally.

_"You're leaving me here?" Alicia looked up at him as he cradled her against his chest, the soft woollen bedclothes pooled around them. "By myself?"_

_Todd looked around the dimly lit dwelling in which the worshippers had accommodated them; in which they would care for his Alicia and let out a long, slow sigh. It was not an ideal situation, especially not now, but it would suffice._

_"I told you, Alicia," he rumbled, nipping at the soft skin at the side of her neck, "there are pressing matters to which I must attend. You have my word that once they are settled, I will return to you."_

_She gasped as he nipped at her, and then moaned softly as his lips brushed her neck as he spoke. She half turned in his arms, and he did not prevent it, merely transferred the line of his nips and kisses along her jaw until he could capture her lips with the sharpness of his kiss. He hissed softly as the transference of her desire sped through the bond between them, rekindling his own._

_She melted against him, into the kiss, into his advances, her mind singing in his as his fingers travelled in expert lines over all of the sensitivity she gave him. His flesh was alive to the touch of hers as it brushed against his when he gathered her to his body. Pressing her beneath him he growled softly as the silk of her surrounded him, enfolded him and caressed each ridge of his hardness as he took possession of her again._

_~you have my word~ ~my word~ ~my word~_

Much later, as he had been preparing to leave, Alicia had stood at his side, as the community gathered before him, assuring him of their fealty – regarding her as though she were the most precious of individuals in their sight; in their care.

Todd narrowed his eyes, as he regarded them, and somewhat in surprise, said, "They are his… worshippers."

"What?" McKay spluttered, "Michael? You have got to be kidding me, he… he hates Humans – he hates everyone as a matter of fact so—"

"Why here?" Jennifer asked Todd, eyeing the villagers. "They're so far out."

Todd rumbled, deep in thought until finally he spoke.

"What better place?" he answered, "Most Wraith have little cause or indeed chance to easily reach beyond the network of portals due to the necessity of our ships to regenerate—"

"During long periods in hyperspace," McKay interjected, "but Michael would be subjected to the same problems."

"Would he?" Todd drew out the words, turning to McKay with a feral grin, watching as the Human scientist began to manipulate the pieces of information in his mind, still grinning, he added, "You have experienced how long it took for us to reach this place."

"Even following a direct course," McKay agreed.

Todd saw the spark of realisation enter McKay's expression even before the man said, "Michael knew it was here."

"Indeed," Todd purred, nodding to one of his sub-commanders. "Troubling, is it not?"

"I can't believe you're being so… so… so cavalier about this," McKay yelped, rounding on Todd. "This is Michael we're talking about. The one that's been systematically poisoning your feeding grounds; who wants nothing more than to see the Wraith… wiped from the face of the galaxy—"

"An ambition you share," Todd accused softly. There was no menace in the words he spoke which were meant simply to derail McKay's tirade, to which he had no desire to listen.

"No." McKay attempted to deny the accusation, but his face fell into an almost frightened expression of apology as he went on, "Well… yes. Maybe, we—"

"All we want is to save people from being fed on," Jennifer interrupted her Atlantean companion. She took a step toward Todd and he felt her move before he turned her way and tilted his head.

"It has been the balance in this galaxy for centuries, Jennifer," he said, and felt McKay stiffen behind him, presumably at the use of the doctor's first name. "A balance which your people upset when you prematurely awakened—"

"Yeah, yeah," McKay stepped into his direct line of sight, waving his hand dismissively, high irritation in both his voice and his body language, "we've heard all that before; excuses on all sides when you look at it that way. We kill Wraith because… oh well, thank you very much we don't quite enjoy being cattle. Michael poisons Wraith and Humans alike – he doesn't care – out of revenge for what he thinks we, and his own people, did to him, and you feed on any Human that moves because… hell we woke you all up early and now you're all fighting for what food there is – it's all a crock of shit, Todd!"

Todd saw Jennifer cringe, and knew she expected him to express the anger that was bubbling under the thin veneer of calm with which he had surrounded himself. In truth, in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to inflict grievous harm on the irritating pest that McKay had become, yet he would not give the man the satisfaction of proving the words he had not said.

"We are as we are, Doctor McKay, since it is our nature," he said mildly.

"Yeah, right," McKay said, pacing away a little and fixing Todd with what the Wraith thought was supposed to be a pointed glare as two drones, on the command of the sub-commander, grabbed one of the villagers by the arms and dragged him closer.

Todd turned his attention from McKay to address his prisoner. The tones he used were clipped and left little room for misunderstanding.

"You and your people will do exactly as you are instructed, and will cooperate with Doctor Keller," he gestured toward where Keller was standing, staring down one of the narrow avenues between the dwellings. "Obey her instructions to the letter and none here will be harmed. Do you understand?"

The man's answer rocked him back, and he had to work very hard to control his reaction to the unexpected declaration.

"We have been expecting you."

**

The Hive Second growled softly as his inquiries met with the soft negative tone of the semi-sentient computer interface. All the data had been purged from the immediate databanks. What _was_ the scientist intending – or what had he discovered that he felt needed to be kept from his fellow Wraith?

He sat back in his seat closing his eyes as he considered what he already knew, and the various pieces of the puzzle that began suddenly _not_ to fit into place.

Perhaps the scientist did not intend to return from his latest administrative visit to his own Hive and for that the Elder Hive's Second could not blame him. The growing unease aboard the ship was almost untenably stressful; explosive and could become dangerous if but one more thing occurred to upset the knife-edge balance that by his efforts the Hive Second barely held.

The warmth of her hands against the hard knots of tension in his shoulders had him hiss audibly in the painful relief she brought him, though at the same time he cursed himself for his inattentiveness that had allowed her to approach him without his notice.

"She did so because he touched her mind and woke in her those emotions that he needed her to feel in order to fulfil that which he must in order to survive," Isla said softly, and she continued to work her skilful fingers over his snarled muscles, before she added in a low voice, "It is an old Wraith… that one."

He could not fault her assessment, or her conclusion of the Human woman's motivation. It had been his impression as well, but to hear it from her, much closer, perspective, lent him the confidence to move forward along his lines of reasoning. His mind turned things over once more even as he reached for one of Isla's hands, caught her wrist and drew her hand forward until he could turn his head and nip at the tender flesh there.

He heard the sharp intake of breath, and felt the fingers of her other hand tighten on his shoulder. He released her wrist and she drew back her hand to resume the massage, as ever not presuming on their relationship.

"The scientist removed his data from the Hive systems," he told her quietly, valuing her quick mind to work tangentially to his own.

"He means to create the belief that he will not return, but he will." Isla said with a good deal of certainty; so much that he turned and fixed her with a surprised expression that she held for a short time before lowering her gaze. "Forgive me, Lord, but when a Wraith such as that one acts thusly, it is for a reason, and this action goes beyond not wishing for others to access his research. He is protecting something…"

"Or someone," the Hive Second mused.

"Lord?" Isla looked up at him, and he pushed a little at her will to prevent her from looking away. She tensed, sliding her hands away from his shoulders; pulling back until he caught her wrist again and prevented her from moving away.

"The Queen's handmaiden," he told her softly, releasing her mind, gratified to see that she now voluntarily held his gaze.

"The one that brought Taevun to me?" she asked.

"The same," he said. "He has taken her from the Hive and, as yet, the Queen does not know about that."

"The Queen is—" His soft growl and the slight warning tilt of his head stopped her tongue if not her thoughts, which he lifted from her suddenly churning mind. "My Lord, I meant no disrespect, I merely—"

"You speak the truth," he said, "She is obsessed with her former…"

He trailed off, thinking through the myriad possible titles he could append to the beginning of that sentence: scientist, advisor, favoured, consort… antagonist…

"He is _hers_. That is enough." Isla said, and he could not stop the chuckle that escaped him. "I have amused you?"

"He was never hers, Isla, and he fights her still. In fact, I am beginning to find it sits… more than a little uneasily within me to believe that he was captured and brought before her as it would seem he was," he mused aloud.

He saw her frown, and could feel that she was turning this information over with that which she already knew.

**

Jennifer Keller turned her head away as the Wraith drones dragged one of the villagers closer to where Todd stood to gaze into the shadowed space between two dwellings. As she did she thought she saw movement, and tuning out the voices she began to inch her way toward the place, slipping between the buildings, finally out from under the stifling presence of her drone guards.

She turned away from looking back at Todd and was almost bowled over by the small shape that came barrelling toward her, growling softly, and as it got closer she saw that the shape was a small child, no more than a toddler.

"Hey, hey, hey," she crooned, crouching to the child. "Take it easy. I'm not going to hurt you."

She reached out to the child now cowering against the wall, away from her.

"See? I'm gentle," she told him, as he froze, allowing her touch. "Where's your mommy, hmm? Are you lost?"

He raised his head to look at her then, and she almost recoiled and snatched away her hand in surprise, falling onto her backside as a woman came out of nowhere and picked up the boy, cradling him against her chest.

"Leave him alone!" she warned, backing away from Keller.

"It's all right," Jennifer said, a sudden urgency in her mind as she tried to make sense of what she had seen. "I won't—"

"He's my son, and I won't let you take him," the woman said, already backing away still further.

"Wait, please," Jennifer said, "I only want—"

The woman turned and fled, ducking into the deeper shadows from which both she and the boy had come.

"Doctor Keller," Todd growled behind her, and she started trying to get to her feet. His hand closed around her arm, and he drew her to her feet, not letting go once she was upright.

"I'm fine!" Jennifer snapped. "I just slipped is all."

"You are a better scientist than you are a liar, Jennifer," he told her, tightening his fingers until the grasp was almost painful. "What did you see?"

"You're hurting me," she protested, refusing to answer his question and betray the woman and her child.

"You know as well as I do," he rumbled dangerously, "this is nothing. Answer my question."

"Bastard! Don't you—" she started struggling, trying to pull her arm out of his grip, her sudden anger lending her strength. It wasn't enough. His grasp was unyielding, but she was more than angry at his presumption on her obedience to him and refused to let him simply threaten her into submission. Without thinking she raised her knee, fast and hard, aiming for his groin.

Todd snarled, apparently anticipating the attack, and turned just enough that her knee connected with his thigh. In the next instant, however, Jennifer felt herself lifted as his free hand closed around her throat, and she was slammed against the wall of the building behind her, all of the air rushing out of her lungs, as she was pinned there as Todd stepped up close.

"You would be wise," he said against her cheek, and the words rumbled against her chest as he pressed closer still, "never to try such a thing again."

As he finished speaking he shifted his grasp on her slightly so that he could lean down to nip at the side of her neck. It was not the soft nip of warning she had received from time to time, but the arrogant, possessive bite that he had so often given to her in the heat of the rut. She knew it held the promise of demonstration as to why this should be the case and her stomach turned a full, nauseating somersault even as the hairs on her body rose and sent an enlivened shiver through her slight form.

"Hey!" the shout came as if from a long way off, but at its insistent repetition, she felt Todd lower her to the ground, withdraw the touch of his hands from her arm and her neck, and take a half step back.

Her knees wobbled shamefully under her, and she pressed both hands against the wall to give herself greater support as McKay finally pushed his way past the drones at the entrance to the inter-building space.

"While we continue to search for the other's facility, we must prepare an area where we can begin an examination of these people, and analyse our findings against our current data," Todd said to her. His voice was clipped and business like – as though nothing untoward had just happened. Keller felt a flush of shame. As McKay came closer she removed one hand from the wall to press it against a trickle of blood she felt against her neck. In answer to Todd, she nodded wordlessly and pushed herself the rest of the way upright, meaning to follow Todd as he strode away.

McKay caught her arm, almost overbalancing her as he pulled her to a halt.

"What's going on, Jen?" he asked softly, frowning in concern. His face was pale.

"Nothing," she said, easing her arm out of his grasp. "Just a disagreement, that's all."

She started to move again, feeling McKay following quickly behind her as he caught her arm again.

"That's not what it looked like to me," he told her urgently, his voice confidential.

Shame rushed back in to suffocate her and she bit the inside of her cheek, hard, to stop the blush she could feel beginning to follow in its wake. Angrily she snatched her arm away again.

"Leave it, Rodney!" she snapped and started to walk away again.

**

Every avenue of enquiry he could think of exhausted, Ronon walked disconsolately back through the Gate, and immediately into Atlantis' hallways. He felt as though he'd somehow failed Teyla with his inability to find her and that feeling did not sit well with him.

Before he knew where he was going, his feet were carrying him along the corridors that led to the brig.

"Sorry, Ronon," the S.O. at the door stepped into his way. "Sheppard's orders, no one goes—"

"Get out. Of my way," Ronon snarled, pushing the man to the side and palming open the door. He locked it by virtue of taking out the middle crystal from the locking mechanism.

He turned to face the cell within, only to find Lorne watching him, his head tilted to one side. His expression made him look bored, sardonic even.

"Whatever it is that you want to know, I can't tell you," Lorne said.

"You expect me to believe that?" Ronon rumbled, stepping closer to the bars.

"What you believe or don't believe doesn't really matter. It's the truth, and neither of us can change that, no matter how we might want to." Lorne answered.

"Damn it, Lorne!" Ronon slapped his hand against the bars in frustration, heedless of the force field erected as an additional protection against the hybrid's escape. "She was your friend once. There has to be something you can tell me. Where _is_ Michael?"

"I don't know."

"Where?"

"I can't tell you," Lorne said with slightly more force.

"Where!" Ronon repeated with equal ire.

"I can't tell you," Lorne slapped his own hand against the bars, the force field crackled around his hand, sending bursts of energy discharging against his palm, filling the air with the sickly scent of ozone.

Ronon's temper finally broke.

"Listen to me, you sorry son-of-a-bitch," he snarled, palming off the force field and all but wrenching open the door as the automatic slider moved too slowly for his tattered patience to stand. Lorne took a step back as Ronon advanced on him, but Ronon was too fast and grabbed him by the medical scrubs that he'd been given to wear and shook him as he continued, "if anything happens to Teyla and I find out you were lying to me, hybrid or not, I'll—"

"You'll _what_?" Lorne spat, squaring up to the man. "Act as the bully you've always been? Unyielding, prejudiced, unable to see the possibilities for the changes your people forced on him – on _us_. You never even gave him a chance to prove he could have been different. You and all the people here _like_ you brought this to be. You _drove. Him._ To this. She alone—"

Growling, Ronon drew back his free hand, balled fist ready to spread the hybrid-Lorne's nose all over his face. He didn't even hear the door behind him slide open.

"Ronon, stand down!" Woolsey's voice, urgent but softly spoken, cut through the haze of rage that had descended over him enough to make him realise what he was about to do. Instead he let go of Lorne, and without even a breath, turned on his heel and pushing Woolsey and the marines aside stormed into the corridors, before breaking into an angry run.

He didn't know where he was going, he just knew he had to run, to escape the feeling of failure that was all that he knew in that moment.

**

Rodney McKay was not known for delicacy. He was usually direct, forthcoming – more often than not putting his foot into his mouth, right up to the knee, so instead of voicing what was on his mind, he kept silent, sitting at the side of the room that Todd had commandeered for Jennifer to do her work, and take her samples from the locals.

Still, as he sat, his mind churned over all the facts. He could tell that something was bothering Jennifer – terribly so – and he couldn't help but think that it had something to do with the altercation he had witnessed that afternoon. The argument, the atmosphere, it was all too chillingly familiar.

He tried to dismiss it, put it down to how stressed and tired they all were, and he could see very clearly that Jennifer was more than a little tired, but something kept the warning bells ringing in his head.

"Why don't you take a break," he said quietly. "You've been at it for hours."

"There's a lot to do, Rodney," Jennifer answered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, and yawning into the back of her other hand. "We have to take these results back to the Hive, one of these people might hold the key to… well, to—"

"To getting you away from Todd so that he can't play games with you any more?" Rodney had said the words almost before he realised he had spoken.

Jennifer spun, turning on him as he began to cross the room and demanded, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He refused to back down. He could tell she was covering for something, and that whatever it was, it was making her miserable, and he didn't like to see any of his friends like that.

"Oh, come _on_, Jennifer!" he said, reaching out toward her, "I'm not blind and I'm certainly not stupid. Ever since we've been on Todd's Hive there's been something wrong – something you're not telling Sheppard and me, and now with this thing in the alley back there, I think I understand what. Jen, if Todd's making improper advances o—"

His stomach churned at the thought of it; the thought of a Wraith – any Wraith – but especially Todd, putting his hands on Jennifer… He knew that for a Wraith that kind of thing was not… not the norm… well at least he thought he did.

_"If they wanted to create more Wraith, wouldn't it be easier to get a male and female to, you know, get a room?" Sheppard said as they walked._

"It doesn't work that way with the Wraith, all right? At least, we don't think it does. We're not entirely sure as to the Wraiths' reproductive methods," he answered.

Though, maybe there was doubt even then, and since his return from the alternate universe, where it had seemed that the Todd they'd found there had somehow been involved with Captain Vega… or maybe she'd been involved with him… in either case, the thought of the same thing happening here with Jennifer made him feel physically sick.

"He was _angry_," Jennifer interrupted both his words and his thoughts.

"Oh I could see that," McKay snapped back, running on, "I wonder what it was that gave me the clue – oh wait! Could it have been the fact that he had you _pinned up against the wall by the throat_?"

"I said, leave it, McKay. You don't understand!" Jennifer snapped back and started to turn back to her work.

McKay caught her arm, turned her back and said, "So help me to understand, because from what I saw, yes, you pissed him off, but then – I know this is going to sound ridiculous – but it looked a hell of a lot like he kissed you."

"Don't be so absurd!" Jennifer spat, a little breathless, and as she freed her arm from his grasp, she raised her hand to press it against the high collar of the lab coat she wore. "If you must know, he was angry that I hadn't done as I was told and stayed with the drones. He was trying to intimidate me; whispering threats."

McKay relaxed slightly, but only a little, in his mind replaying what he had seen. He could accept that perhaps that could have been what had happened, that Todd's cheek pressed to hers could have brought his lips close to her ear, to whisper… intimidate… threaten.

"What threats?" he asked.

"He's not going to let me go, Rodney," Jennifer said, a tremor in her voice. "If I don't start to give him the results he needs, he's going to keep me on that Hive and—"

"He told you that?" McKay asked, frowning. "You know that's never going to happen, Jen – if nothing else, Sheppard won't let him keep you."

"He won't have a choice," Jennifer said. She shook her head. "Unless we find what he's looking for; the answers he needs, he's never going to let me go."

McKay blinked, then felt the shock running through him, almost worse than the thought that there might have been something… unsavoury going on between Todd and Jennifer… the thought that they had willingly allowed her to put herself in that position.

"Jennifer, I'm… I'm sorry. We should never have let you do this," he said, his voice full of the absolute horror that gripped him. "It was stupid. I'll talk to Sheppard; tell him—"

"No!" The vehemence with which she spoke made McKay jump, and he didn't like the speed with which she'd answered either.

"But—"

"If you say anything to Sheppard he's just going to get himself into trouble, McKay, you know that." She shook her head again, "We're on Todd's Hive, we have to go by Todd's rules. You just gotta let me… do what I have to do."

He saw her shiver, and she wrapped her arms around herself. As she did, her lab coat shifted and he caught sight of the bruise on her neck. It didn't seem to be any better. In fact, it seemed to be more livid than ever.

**

Todd backhanded the man, not hard – he didn't want to snap his neck after all – but hard enough to demonstrate his sincerity.

"You expect me to believe that!" he snarled. "Answer my question!"

"I have answered it," the man insisted as he straightened up. "Your coming was foretold… and some among us felt your arrival."

"Impossible!" Todd roared, mentally ordering the drones away, and grasping the front of the man's shirt to pull him closer. He knew of only one person who could sense the arrival of the Wraith and she was not among them. Lowering his voice to a rumbling growl he leaned closer to the prisoner and said, "Just because I do not believe it wise to feed on you does not mean there are not other ways of soliciting my demands."

"Then ask them, Commander," the man answered, and though Todd could smell his fear – taste it – he did not back down.

"I have already asked," Todd snarled, his patience ragged. "How did you come to know we would come here?"

"We were told there would be a time when you would come. You, and not another. Your description was given to us," the man said.

"By whom?"

"The one that came before," the man answered. "Our people sensed his arrival barely minutes before—"

"I told you, that's impossible," Todd started, meaning to say more, but he was cut off by the soft voice that came from behind him.

"Not impossible," Keller said, coming up to him with her computer tablet in her hand. He let go of the man, letting him drop to the ground and turned to snatch the tablet from the doctor's hands. "They're hybrids, Todd – each and every one of them."

Todd looked up from his reading, a disbelieving scowl on his face. At his silent command two drones came to remove the man from their presence, glaring at Jennifer the whole time, pinning her to the spot like a specimen butterfly.

"You're wrong," he snarled when they were alone. He tossed the computer aside and advanced on her. "Your results are wrong. There must have been some error in your analysis."

"How _dare_ you!" Jennifer snapped, straightening her back in spite of his advance and standing her ground. "I have never given you reason to doubt my science. I have _always_ given you complete and accurate results."

He reached for her as he got close enough, and this time she _did _take a step away.

"Don't you touch me, you bastard!" she hissed at him. "My results are right. My findings are accurate and no amount of threatening me or pushing me around… or _anything_ is going to change that."

"They do not have the appearance of—" he growled, almost hesitating in his advance, just for a moment. It was long enough for her to shock him completely.

"_Natural _hybrids," she said, "and only one or two of them like Teyla, and Kanaan. Are they the product of some kind of… genetic splice in years gone by? I don't know. All I know is that it's hereditary. They have both Human and Wraith DNA, and—"

He knew she'd stopped herself even before she bit her lip.

"And what, Doctor Keller," he demanded, his voice pitched low, soft in the menace he projected. "One more step and the wall is behind you. What will you do then?"

She froze and as she did his reaching hand closed around her arm, drawing her to him. His mind wrapped around hers, sparing nothing for the fact that she was unused to that level of invasive control and he forced her to look up at him.

"Todd, don't…" she said, her voice just on the edge of a whimper. "You've no reason to be angry with me for bringing you the truth."

"And. What?" he repeated slowly, tightening his grip on her mind.

He was not so out of control that he did not reach for the buried memory, known to all commanders of his antiquity, but more especially to him…

_A dark world, acrid, dry…a dying sun, expanding red heat, filling the horizon like the blood seeping from the young hybrid woman, barely sheltered by the hastily grown pavilion, away from the confines, the safety of the settlement. She was as surely dying as was the planet's second sun._

_But not yet… first she would deliver. She must, or all of his suffering, his travails would have been for naught._

_++ironic++_

_He turned, and lowered himself to his knees, lest he anger her, leaving the labouring woman to the care of the midwife and the protection of his drones. He had not heard or felt her approach, and knew by that, that she had masked herself from him. Not often had he been in her presence, but always he had felt her._

_++Rise… Commander++_

_As her words, and the understanding of his elevation in rank, wrapped around his mind, he first raised his eyes to look on the magnificence that was his Queen. She hissed softly, and turned her head in a serpentine fashion to one side and then the other._

_~my Queen?~_

_She was taller than he had imagined – the top of her head reaching almost to the level at which his sensory pits flared with the scent of her. Her long white hair flowed over her shoulders, left naked by the soft leather of her dress, that shone with the silver accents carved and painted into its pliant surface. The accents matched and continued the dark, blood red tattoos that swirled and danced over her pale green-white skin. Her cheek bones were high, stressing the harsh beauty that defined her, and her amber eyes burned into the deepening red of the coming night._

_Slowly he came to his feet._

_++that she should be born today++ ++today++ ++today++_

_She raised her feeding hand to gesture toward the broiling sun on the horizon. Her long, clawed fingers were spread as if she meant to pluck the burning mass and hurl it at him for his insolence._

_++I remember… all those centuries ago… your sire attempted just the same as you. You. Came. To be. He… could not. Match me.++_

_She fixed him with a feral glare, slowly lowering her feeding hand, gathering her hair with the other so that it no longer cloaked her… so that the smooth, inviting call of her chest became open to him even as she mantled. Invitation. Challenge._

_++can you?++ ++you?++ ++you?++ ++you?++ ++you?++_

As he came back to the present he realised that he had mantled. The startled, terrified look in Keller's eyes speared him, and halted the forward motion of his hand, even as she cried out.

"There's a boy! A Wraith, even though one of the women claims him as her son!" she cried. "Please, let go of me."

"And you have… analysed this family's DNA, this woman and her… son?"

Keller shook her head. "I saw them in the alley between the buildings. It's why I was there. I haven't seen them since."

Todd sent the instant summons to the drones, plundering the images from Keller's mind before releasing her from his mental grip. She sagged, falling against him and for a moment he held her – supportive, perhaps even feeling a momentary pang of remorse.

In the wake of it, as she fought to catch her breath he said almost softly, "You must stop fighting me, Jennifer."

"Go to hell!" she answered, but without much conviction.

He chuckled softly, setting her upright once more, but did not let go before she nodded briefly.

"You are certain of these results?" he asked as he retrieved the tablet and brought it back to her.

"Yes," she said. "Every single one of them, hybrids, and all of them carry the Hoffan protein."

"Except one, I suspect," Todd purred thoughtfully.

"One?" Jennifer asked.

He did not have the chance to give her the answer that was on his tongue. From outside, in the centre of the settlement, the sound of an explosion barely reached them before the closed shutters burst inward, raining debris into the room even as he snatched Keller from her place, and sheltered her beneath him as he threw the both of them to the floor.

**

Landing on the floor beneath the Wraith's protective bulk winded her, and she gasped softly as she tried to take her next breath. Todd's form, shielding her from the dust and pieces of wood and other debris was almost suffocating, but even so she was thankful, and he held her, still pressed beneath his body against the floor of the house.

And then the pressure was gone.

"Stay down, and stay here!" he ordered as he started to rise.

"But—" she started to argue with him and he rounded on her in a half crouch, his face wild, almost animalistic and fixed in a snarl. His hair flew out behind him.

"Do as I say!"

He left her no reason to doubt that his anger, if she were to disobey him this time, would not so quickly be mollified.

She nodded, and then all but screamed as he upended the table and pushed it until it sat between her and the doorway. Understanding she scrambled to put her back against its protective surface. He nodded once, and then hurried away, and she heard the door open and close behind him. As it opened, the louder sounds of the conflict outside reached her ears.

"He's here?" she whispered the question in fear.

**

They came out of nowhere and McKay particularly hated that. There were about fifteen or twenty of them from what he managed to count as he ducked behind the well in the middle of the village, Michael's hybrids, probably come in defence of what was theirs.

"Crap!" he hissed, realising that Jennifer was inside the building with Todd and knew nothing of the attack. It was the only thought he had time for before the explosion ripped through the settlement, sending pieces of incendiary devices, and debris from the annihilated buildings flying in all directions, and causing similar damage to those nearby.

He ducked still further behind what was left of the well, covering his head with his arms. He was helpless, unarmed… there was nothing he could do except cower there like some terrified school girl. He hated himself for it.

The sounds of Wraith blasters exchanging fire filled the air as drones ran quickly to new positions to find their targets, some of them torn and bleeding as they passed him by.

"_So_ not good!" he murmured to himself, and tried to crane his neck to see the building into which Jennifer had gone in search of Todd. The door opened, but as McKay tried to peer inside, trying to check on his friend, his view was obscured by the emerging Wraith and he could see nothing but the upturned furniture within.

Todd's face was fixed with an expression of fury, his yellow eyes burning across the distance, as though he was searching for the perpetrator of some heinous crime. As the Wraith moved, drew his stunner and started across the clearing toward the battle, dust and smoke whirled in convection currents around the bottom of his leather battle coat, as though moved by the heat of Todd's fury.

McKay swallowed, and tried again to see past the Wraith, but even as Todd moved out of the doorway, three drones moved to take up defensive positions, guarding the door that one of them closed from the inside after he entered. McKay knew that he should have been comforted by the fact that Todd seemed to be making sure that Jennifer was safe, but it sat uncomfortably with him.

As if the Wraith could hear his thoughts, Todd turned his head in McKay's direction, and his voice rang out across the clearing, giving instructions to marshal the chaos of the battle, addressing his sub-commanders in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Hold them here while we circle to their flank, and have a care for your targets, I want at least one of them alive!" he roared, giving voice to his anger and McKay shuddered to think what he might do with one of the hybrid soldiers if any were captured.

He jumped, and let out a sound that even _he_ would have described as a 'girly scream' as a sudden dead weight fell beside him, disturbing more clouds of dust. Covering his mouth and nose against it with the sleeve of his jacket, McKay looked over at the fallen Wraith sub-commander.

"Yes!" he exclaimed, leaning across the fallen figure to snatch the blaster from its hand. Now he could help. Now he could do some real damage.

His momentary elation was stolen when Todd's voice rang out again, issuing a second command. "And find the Human – I need _him_ alive as well!"

**

The Lower Station was stifling, its airless tension making everything seem sharp and even more dangerous than usual and there was no respite from it. The Hive Commander recognised this, feeling and tasting the simmering fear of the worshippers housed in this contemptuous place.

She was not there. He knew before he even reached the central chamber in order to interrogate the Handlers that the Queen's second handmaiden was not among the worshippers. She was not in her quarters either, or the scientist's laboratory, pandering to that one's whims and enjoying his protection, even though he doubted she had ever done that arrogant Wraith any service that afforded her the title and position of concubine.

He could come to only one conclusion. The scientist had somehow spirited her away from the Hive.

He halted in his tracks. No sense in lingering here, and asking questions to which he already knew the answers. He had better things to do with his time… others with which he meant to deal… when the time came. Until then, there were plans he had yet to make.

**

Even though they were outflanked, Michael's hybrids had fallen back, accepting the casualties that such a desperate tactic had wrought in order to protect what must be the entrance to the facility for which McKay and the others had been searching.

He knew it was only a matter of time, and that they stood little chance against the fury of the Wraith that was fighting from the other side of the approach. How could so few hybrids stand against the might of a Hive ship full of Wraith?

Even as the thought crossed his mind he began to hear the distant whine of Wraith Darts, coming closer.

He was drawn, somewhat suddenly from his dark contemplations by the stinging shower of brick fragments that flew to cut his cheek. Repeated fire from the hybrid that had him pinned behind the wall chipped further at the hardened clay shield, taking it down piece by piece. He shielded his head with his hands for a long moment, before the wick of his anger, ignited, finally got the better of him.

He suddenly threw himself sideways, rolling into the open and resting both hands along the dirt, fired over and over again into the hybrid line. Overhead the Darts came swooping in, as heedless of McKay and his pin prick assault on the enemy as they were of the hybrid defences themselves. It was over in seconds.

The barrage of fire from the Darts' strafing runs barely missed him, blowing huge gouges in the ground to either side of him. McKay covered his head again, barely holding back the curses that were poised to come streaming out of his mouth into the sudden acute silence.

It took him a while to realise that no fiery death had rained down on him from the heavens and, incredulous, he let out a single peel of almost hysterical laughter, rolling onto his back, clutching the Wraith stunner to his chest.

The shadow that fell over him ended the laughter.

"The weapon, Doctor McKay," Todd's voice rolled over the otherwise silent arena, where, already, Wraith drones were beginning to separate the living from the dead. He held out his hand, waiting for McKay to hand over the blaster.

McKay let out a derisive snort.

"And the horse you rode in on…" he said, and wondering himself whether he were either brave or foolish, he raised the stunner from the position in which he held it, lying on his chest, and pointed it directly at the Wraith, "…pal!"

Todd growled softly, fixing McKay with a withering expression, not of anger, but of contempt.

"If I thought you were at all serious," he purred, completely unruffled, "I might threaten to feed on you for your insolence."

Pushed one step beyond his limit, McKay felt his cheeks flush with anger, and though his throat constricted involuntarily as his brain told him how stupid his actions were, he brought his other hand to try and steady the shake as he aimed at the Wraith.

"Well then you better find yourself a nice Chianti, because I am – deadly serious," he squeaked. "I want to know what's going on, Todd, between you and Jen…nifer."

He decided against shortening her name, but was no less angry, when the look of wild fury entered Todd's eyes, and in a voice that was more than just a little south of absolute zero, the Wraith said, "This is hardly the time or the place to discuss that, Doctor. We have work to do."

What happened next wasn't intentional, and even as it was happening, McKay wanted to drop the weapon, cower away and scream his innocence to the sky. _I didn't mean to do it… it was an accident._ As his bravado began to fade in the face of Todd's anger, the tremor in his hand increased, and clasped as it was, tightly around the hilt of the weapon, his finger hit, and squeezed the trigger.

His aim was off, though by some miracle, not by much, and the shot grazed the top of Todd's shoulder, cutting a searing line through the leather and flesh beneath. Todd hissed loudly with the pain of it, and crouching over McKay in an instant, he first slapped the weapon aside, and out of McKay's grasp with one hand, and then mantled his feeding hand before thrusting it forward with a speed to match his fury.

McKay closed his eyes.

"Todd!"

**

Jennifer's voice rang out, an urgent appeal across the distance between where she stood with the drones, and where Todd loomed over her companion, his feeding hand barely a whisper away from McKay's chest.

"Michael's research," she said more softly as the Wraith froze.

Todd growled softly.

"Please," she added, a more direct appeal, walking away from the drones and approaching the terrifying image of Pegasus Still Life. As she got closer she could see the still-smoking wound on the top of Todd's shoulder, and realised that his uncharacteristic savagery was at least in part due to the pain he must be in. "He's sorry, right Rodney?"

"Uh… yeah," McKay stammered, realising only as the words were tumbling out of his mouth what a cliché it was as he said, "It just… went off in my hand."

**

"Hmmm," Todd growled softly as the blinding heat faded from his awareness. Slowly he reached out the rest of the way toward the Human at his mercy, perversely enjoying the way McKay cringed, and turned his feeding hand to take a fistful of the jacket McKay wore into his grasp and haul the man to his feet.

Behind the carefully controlled movement, he fought a battle with himself. Such a loss of control was unacceptable, and he knew that soon – very soon – he would have to return to the Hive and deal with one of the factors that were causing his shortening temper. The young queen's Zenith could not be allowed to continue unfulfilled and much as he was loathe to bring her relief until _he_ was ready; as much as he permitted himself the fleeting reprieve from madness that Keller afforded him, it was not enough. _She_ was not enough, and neither would be this queen.

"There is work that we must do," he growled softly, releasing McKay from his grasp and pointedly smoothing out the wrinkles in the other man's jacket as he did so, before he turned and walked toward the entrance to Michael's facility.

**

McKay breathed out a long, heartfelt sigh of relief as Todd turned away, and cradled his right hand in his left. He glanced over at Jennifer as she came to his side, her face a picture of concern.

"What the hell?" she hissed.

"I, er… said some things that maybe I shouldn't have," McKay confessed, "before I accidentally shot him. God, I think he broke my finger."

Keller reached over and took him by the wrist, pulling his hand closer in order to examine his fingers. He winced, and let out an audible cry as she manipulated the digits carefully.

"You're lucky that's all he did," she told him, her voice tight with emotion.

**

Tears welled in Keller's eyes as she examined McKay's hand, and not from any concern for her patient. There would be hell to pay for all of this, and she would be the one to pay it. In that moment she didn't know how much more she could take. She tried to gather the tatters of her resolve around herself to shore up her strength of mind. She let go of McKay's wrist. His middle finger was, in fact, broken.

"There's nothing I can do here," she told him. Then she nodded toward the entrance through which Todd had, by then, disappeared. With a sigh she added, "Perhaps inside."

"Jen—" McKay began, but she shook her head.

"I don't want to hear it, McKay," she said. "Do you _want_ to find a cure for Sheppard; for the Hoffan syndrome? Or maybe you have some kind of… perverse death wish. Me? I'm _tired_ of covering for your fuck-ups, Rodney. I can't do it any more. Either stop… antagonising Todd or you're on your own!"

Before he had a chance to answer she turned on her heel and quickly followed Todd through into Michael's facility, more angry with herself for allowing herself to show how worked up she was than she was with McKay. He was only looking out for her, she knew… or rather he was trying to, but what the hell would he do if he ever found out the truth?

She didn't slow her steps when he called after her, sounding hurt and confused. More than anything she didn't want him to see the tears that fell from her eyes.

**

Todd turned full circle in the centre of the huge, dimly lit laboratory. He tilted his head as he looked on the figures suspended in the greenish fluid caught, breathless, somewhere between admiration and wonder, and prickling with horror at what he saw.

The Wraith, held in the life sustaining fluid was withered and pale. His eyes shot through with the red madness of the need to feed, and signs of some excruciating pain that visibly twisted his limbs even in the relative stasis of the chamber. From the lower abdomen of the unfortunate sub-commander tubules emerged, connecting this Wraith with the occupants of the other chambers; Human men and women who in turn were linked by similar tubules to the system that made up the majority of the rest of the laboratory – a series of pods, not unlike the hibernation system aboard a Hive.

The fluid in one of the tanks bubbled suddenly as the occupant, a Human woman, suddenly thrashed in her semi-consciousness, and a slow spiral of a darker fluid began to seep into the luminous green of the chamber's sustaining fluid where the tubules began, almost as if they were aware of her impending demise, to detach themselves.

"Oh my God!"

Keller's shocked voice came from behind him. He partly turned his head to watch her as she hurried toward him, her intention clear. She meant to pass him and go to the console in front of the chambers. She was going to try and help these people.

Before she could move past him, he grasped her arm, relentlessly holding her from her purpose.

As he turned his head he saw too that McKay, who stood to her other side, had also taken her by the arm. He was the first to speak.

"You can't help these people, Jennifer," he said.

"Let me go," she snarled at the both of them, and then to McKay added, "I can damn well try! We have to get them out of there."

"There's no way to reach them," McKay argued with her. "There's no telling if Michael rigged this place the way he did the others, but based on his track record, I'd say it was a pretty safe bet."

"No," she drew out the word, but Todd could feel that she had begun to capitulate to the other man's logic. Her helplessness caused her emotional distress. "Rodney…"

"They are beyond your—" Todd began to add, and when she turned a glare his way he amended, "beyond _our_ help and were from the moment the one you call Michael began his experimentation upon them."

"Todd's right," McKay said, quiet and sorrowful in the way he spoke and Keller's struggles with the both of them slowed and then ceased all together.

"Doctor McKay, we need access to the computer system here," Todd said, taking a breath and letting it out as a sigh as his mind raced with myriad assumptions and suppositions. To Keller he said, almost softly, though not really feeling the compassion his words suggested, "The kindest thing we can do for them now is to give them a swift… end to their suffering."

"Do it, Rodney," Keller said hotly, and snatched her arm out of Todd's grasp. He watched as she stormed as far away from both of them as she could. Felt as she tried to catch a hold of her churning emotions, without much success.

For a moment he was at a loss as to what he could say, and started to wonder why he needed to say anything. The Human woman obviously wanted to be alone with her thoughts, so why should he try to draw her mind back to the task in hand?

"Doctor Keller…" The words he spoke next answered his internal questioning. "Will you be able to perform the tasks necessary in order to complete our work here?"

She spun around on him, and for a moment he expected some kind of tirade to issue forth from her lips, full of the colourful Human expletives with which she often regaled him. He tilted his head, regarding her fully, and saw the tension in her body as she assured him softly, "I'll be fine. Just promise me we're going to let them go."

He moved closer to her then, pitching his voice low so that only she would hear.

"You have my word, Jennifer, once we have the necessary samples, I will endeavour to find a way to shut down the machines that are keeping these unfortunate people alive."

She straightened then, raising her hand to place it on his arm. "Good enough," she told him. "Now let me take a look at that shoulder."

Todd shook his head.

"It is nothing," he assured her. "Already healing."

"Which of us here is the doctor?" Keller asked, and he could not help but chuckle, and then, humouring her, he moved to sit down on the edge of one of the consoles so that she could more easily reach his shoulder. Yes, it was still sore, but he had not been lying when he said it was already healing. He could feel the edges of his flesh beginning to knit.

Keller's hands against his shoulder were cooling though, soothing the fire that lingered there – though not another that he barely held beneath the surface. He took a breath and said, "So, Doctor, what is your prognosis?"

"You're… doing okay," she said, and he watched as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Healing nicely."

"Hmm," he answered, and would have said more, but for McKay's sudden and alarmed call.

"Um… guys!" he said urgently, "Whatever you gotta do I suggest you do it fast, we already tripped the failsafe just by coming in here. I managed to put in a temporary bypass – input a sub-routine into the computer's main processor, but it won't keep it busy for long and then it will start triggering the detonators."

"How long?" Todd cursed The Abomination inwardly. He might have known that a place like this would be protected differently than the others. Even as he asked he began to move toward McKay and the chambers were Michael's test subjects floated, oblivious.

"I don't know," McKay exclaimed, "ten minutes, twenty? How am I supposed to know. It depends on the speed of the processor, the read-write time the—"

"Do you think you can over-ride the lockout codes in that time?" Todd asked, his eyes running over the information tumbling over the screen of the console at which McKay stood.

"Michael's lockouts? On the failsafe? Not a chance," McKay answered bleakly.

Todd shook his head, and corrected the man urgently, "The lockouts on the file directory."

"Maybe," McKay said doubtfully.

"Do what you can," Todd growled, tossing him a rolled, soft leather case full of data storage chips. "Just download the files. We can worry about decrypting them back on the Hive."

"I'm on it!" McKay said, and turned to the console again. Todd watched as the near panic of a moment before dissolved under the influence of the challenge of breaking The Abomination's system.

"Jennifer," he called to her softly. "Help me take the physical samples from these individuals. Perhaps the answers we seek will be a part of them, and not any of the written records."

"How?" Jennifer asked as she came to stand at the side of Todd in front of the chambers.

Todd gestured to the tendrils and tubules entering and exiting the individuals and the parts of them that emerged through valves in the side of each of the chambers.

"I would imagine these carry fluids from the one to another. It's likely that The A— that…" he hesitated to use the human name they had given to the other, "…Michael used these to extract test samples himself."

Jennifer nodded, a slight frown on her face as she said, "All right. The medical case should still have some empty vials and needles."

"Excellent," Todd purred, "This may turn out well after all."

**

McKay had never input codes, and run algorithms so fast in his life. He had no way of knowing how long his sub-routine would keep Michael's computer occupied – if only it could have been as simple as ordering it to calculate the exact value of pi – or how much longer the failsafe countdown had to run before he had noticed it. All he _did_ know was that the moment it started up again; when it started triggering those detonators, he, Jennifer, Todd and everything left in the laboratory, probably the entire facility, was toast.

Behind him, Todd and Jennifer worked just as quickly to extract biological samples and secure them in the medical case for transportation back to the Hive. Each of the three of them was working as part of a frighteningly well oiled machine – considering.

Finally gaining access, and triumphantly pushing one of the Wraith data chips home into the housing he murmured to himself, "Always did work better under pressure."

One after another of the data chips he pressed into place, filling them with all the files he could find, not even bothering to try and decipher the Wraith script on any of the file names, falling into a routine to get as much of the data stored as he could in the time that he had.

The end was heralded by the sudden power failure to most of the lab, and by the collapse of the data stream into a single pulsing point in the centre of the screen.

"We're out of time!" he yelled, snatching the last chip he'd been using from the system and hurriedly packing it into the leather roll Todd had given him. "We gotta go!"

Turning he saw Todd none too gently push Jennifer in the direction of the door. Then the Wraith bent to snap the medical case closed before following quickly behind her.

"Go," the Wraith ordered, and out of the corner of his eye, McKay saw the blinking point in the centre of the screen morphed and began to read off numbers, counting backwards, just as before, when all this madness began.

"There's no way we're going to make it!" he cried, hurrying after the retreating Wraith none the less. His heart was pounding, the fear mounting, but the anger too grew to match it. He'd come too far to fall foul of something like this. "It's too far to get out of the compound."

**

Todd growled softly, and reached out with his free hand to grab the Human by the arm. He would drag the man along if he had to. As they hurried down the corridor, to his superior Wraith hearing, the rhythmic beeps of the countdown were a comfort – giving them time to exit the building… and that was all that was necessary.

As they rounded the corner, the exit door in sight, he detected a new sound, a slight click, followed by a whine that rose in pitch.

"The detonators," he snarled, tugging harder on McKay's arm. "Move!"

Looking up ahead, he saw that Keller had already reached the door, was pushing it open; almost outside. He redoubled his efforts to reach her, dragging McKay in tow, hearing that the detonator had reached the peak of its charge. He hit Keller and the opening door hard just as the sickening sound of ignition almost deafened him.

The air around him became hot and he knew in seconds it would be superheated as the explosion ate up the oxygen around the fire it created, ravenous for more to feed itself. They had less than seconds, and since the explosion had momentarily rendered his hearing useless, he had no other option than to seek with his mind.

He didn't even have time to do that.

The chilling fizz of the culling beam swept over him, and as the superheated fire rolled over the space that he and the others had occupied, shrivelling the weeds that had grown up between the cracks in the melting tarmac, making of the place the heart of the inferno, the Dart powered away, assisted by the convection of heat, toward the Hive waiting in its orbit over the planet.

**

"Commander?"

The tremulous voice came from the shadows just beyond the junction that marked the boundary between the Lower Station and the rest of the Hive. He slowed to a halt, and turned to face the single figure that revealed itself from that space. He swallowed his surprise when he recognised the face of the Human woman, Queen's handmaiden that he had taken as his concubine.

She lowered her gaze before him, and stood slightly bowed, almost whispering, "Forgive my presumption, Lord Commander, but the one you seek is not here."

He growled softly. The anger he already felt in the seemingly permanent hunger that had lodged inside of him flaring at the thought that this woman, this lowly creature on which he would be better off feeding than anything else that had occurred between them, had been following him. Still, as companion to the One that he indeed was searching for, she may be able to give him the information he sought.

"Speak," he commanded and stepped toward her, grasping her chin in uncaring fingers to force her gaze up to meet his.

"She is not aboard the Hive at all, Lord," she said quietly. "I heard she and the other speaking, when they did not know I was near. He has taken her elsewhere, to safety, he said."

The Hive Commander snarled and all but threw the woman back against the wall of the Hive as he roared, "Tell me what you heard!"

**

Winded and afraid, Hanna fought to keep her feet under her. She had meant for this to be redemption in his eyes, not to bring her further danger in a Hive already rank with it.

"I… she…" she began, then managing to take a breath at last, said, "I had come to inform her that our Queen would need us to attend her when she met again with our allies. She was with him in his laboratory facilities. He had sent for her the previous days…"

_The door to the laboratory stood open and she could see the Wraith scientist quickly working at the computer terminal, filling storage chips with data she could not read, but which she was sure had something to do with the work he had been doing for the Queen._

_As she drew closer she began to hear their voices. There was something about the quality of them, soft and somehow sad or nervous, perhaps both._

_"Where will we go?" Hanna heard Alicia ask. "Will you take me to your own Hive now?"_

_"Alicia," the Wraith purred and Hanna watched as he paused in his work to run the fingertips of his feeding hand almost tenderly down the other woman's cheek. A pang of jealousy tightened in her belly, and the desire to teach her human companion a sharp lesson peaked in the order of those things she needed to do. "I have told you… regrettably that is impossible."_

_"But why?" Alicia asked, and she leaned, almost nuzzled at the fingertips before he drew them away from her cheek and turned back to his work._

_"You would be no safer on __**my**__ Hive than you would here, quite possibly less, since there is no Queen for you to serve by which to gain status of your own," he told her. "You would be in constant danger of being little better than… something on which my underlings would seek to feed."_

_"Then where?" she asked, moving to lean against him, pressing her cheek against the broad planes of his back._

_"I will take you to those who serve my Hive," the Wraith said, and he stopped again to turn and draw her closer still, into his arms, his fingers playing over the skin of her back, left exposed by the cut of the dress she wore. "Those from whom our worshippers come when they are not born aboard the Hive."_

_"Is it safe?" Alicia asked him, looking up at him._

_"They are loyal to me," he told her, adding softly, as though speaking to himself, "safer than this hotbed of ambition and vice; safer than the insanity that exists here."_

_"Is it… reasonable there? I mean it's not like some… backwards tribal village or something?" Alicia asked, drawing a warm chuckle from the Wraith, and once more the pang of jealousy tightened in Hanna's gut._

_"The Ecruos live a simple agrarian life," the Wraith told her, "but trust me, Alicia, you will be more than comfortable there. They will see to it that you are."_

_"You'll tell them to, you mean," she asked._

_"Indeed," the Wraith purred, letting go of the woman so that he could finish the task in which he was engaged on the computer. "I will insist."_

Hanna closed her eyes as she finished her tale, hoping that the Hive Commander would find the information useful and that she would once again be elevated to his favour.

"You have served me well," the Commander said, his voice low, a hint of danger rumbling through it, but Hanna's heart soared none the less.

**

It was typical that both of the consoles at which he worked signalled the end of their simulation at the same time.

He glanced over at Keller, and finding her still engrossed in the analysis of the progression by which The Abomination had been creating the hybrids he made at that facility, he moved first to the machine that had been working on the simulation of the recombinant Wraith-Human DNA when exposed to the Hoffan protein.

His brow ridges furrowed deeply as he ran his eyes over the tumbling character representations of amino acids and poly-peptide bonds. There was a key hidden somewhere in the data and he would find it. He _had_ to find it for his people to survive.

Moving away, he began to prepare the equipment he would need in order to synthesise the formula that his mental calculations, based on the simulation results, suggested would provide a solution and halt, perhaps even prevent the systematic shutdown of all Wraith internal organs should one happen to be careless enough to feed on an infected Human.

"Did you find something?" Keller's voice came from closer than her previous position had been, and, as casually as he could, he reached over to darken the monitor on the second of the two consoles, the one on which he had been comparing the DNA structures of the people they had found, the child that had displayed more Wraith characteristics than those of his hybrid mother, Wraith, and the blood samples taken from both Doctor Keller, and Alicia.

_~parmhuna~_

The thought kindled in him an almost painful longing, a need to move the Hive from its current position, still in orbit, in case there was further information they required for their research, and bring them to a new position above the Ecruo homeworld, where she waited for his promised return.

He felt the rising of his body temperature, his blood beginning to speed through his system, and knew then that it was not the thought alone that had kindled the autonomic response. His condition had been gathering pace since the moment he stepped foot aboard the Hive. His young queen's pheromones called to the instinctive creature his reason trapped within.

"I believe so," he managed to pull his mind to the present enough to answer Keller, growling softly when she drew too near to him, and her own scent washed over him. He stepped aside so that she could see the equipment he had gathered and draw conclusions from the ingredients he had chosen with which to make the serum, watching as she first glanced toward the still active monitor, where his simulation was looping through the probable effects of the medicine.

"My God, you—" Keller started, looking at him incredulously. "That treatment, even in a healthy individual is a big risk, Todd. Someone already suffering the effects of the Hoffan syndrome – or worse, a dying Wraith, I mean… you know how quickly the protein attacks the Wraith physiognomy. You can't possibly—"

"It is for those very reasons that this is the only viable course of action," Todd rumbled, knowing the risks. He did not need to have it pointed out to him. "Anything else would require too long to be of any conceivable use."

"That's as may be, but—"

She reached out to grasp his wrist, preventing him from beginning the synthesis of the serum. He snatched his hand away as though her touch burned him. It may as well have done. His being alone in the laboratory with the Human woman, having dismissed McKay as soon as they had finished decrypting the files, was dangerous, and not only for Keller. If he were to lose control now – show weakness within the semi-sentient awareness of a Hive already unbalanced in coming to know a foreign queen as its own – it could very well cost him his life.

"What's wrong?" Keller asked, further irritating him with her perceptive compassion. She reached out for him again, giving him a look of concern.

"Do not!" he snarled, stepping away, putting distance between them. He knew in that moment that the time in which he could continue to subjugate the young queen to his will was at an end. With as even a look as he could manage he tried to soften the harshness of his former exclamation and said, "For your own safety. I fear perhaps that we have rested too little after our narrow escape from the facility on the planet."

"Oh, I—" Keller stuttered, and immediately he saw she began a visual appraisal of his physical condition. He could not stop the hungering growl that gathered in the back of his throat but even were he to reach out; use Keller to subdue his rising sexual need, it would likely be more savage and brutal than she would be able to survive… and there was still the other consideration to pursue.

He shook his head, cutting her off.

"I must feed," he said, irrevocably reminding her that he was Wraith, "and you must rest. I will send someone to see to the needs of your own nutrition."

With the slightest inclination of his body, almost a small bow, he took a step back, and then turned and quickly exited the lab.

**

Keller frowned as she watched him go. She was not convinced. There was more that was bothering Todd than he had let on. She was certain of it.

Her eyes were drawn to the darkened monitor beside her and she was suddenly sure that whatever was troubling him, she would likely find the answers in whatever data he had, albeit smoothly, hidden from her.

She knew she did not have much time, if she wanted to understand she would have to take the data with her. Study it later, when she could be sure she would not be disturbed, and with that thought she glanced toward the door, expecting at any moment that it would open, and whatever Wraith Todd had assigned to her comfort would storm in, full of resentment as they all were, except perhaps Kenny, of her presence on the Hive and in his laboratory, involved in his research.

Another thought struck her as she began to search around for a data chip that would not be missed, onto which she could download the data before any of the Wraith arrived. What if Todd's consternation was caused by an inability to find a solution to Sheppard's problem among the many files they had stolen from Michael's system? It was a thought that didn't sit well with her, and she hurriedly pressed the key to activate the screen for only long enough to highlight the data and send it to the chip she pushed home, disabling the screen once more when the door opened.

"Doctor Keller." She was both relieved and worried when Kenny stepped into the laboratory. It would not be easy to pass the slight of hand she would require to remove the data chip unnoticed by Kenny. "The Commander is indisposed and has instructed I see to your needs. Tell me, what I may bring to ensure your comfort."

"It's all right," she started to tell him. "I'm not hungry." Her churning belly rumbled, belying her words, and she gave Kenny an apologetic smile. "Or perhaps I am. Whatever you bring, I'm sure it will be fine."

Kenny nodded respectfully and something about the tilts of his head; the expression on his face made Keller smile. She thanked him softly, starting to turn back to the computer console to retrieve the chip.

"In the meanwhile, I'll—" she started.

"I do not think so, Doctor," she jumped as Kenny's hand closed around her arm just as she would have reached for it. She felt a rising heat rush upward to bite at the tips of her ears, certain that she had been discovered, so she almost cried with relief when Kenny continued. "The Commander was most insistent that you went to your rest. He requires your mind fresh when you return to your tasks together."

"Oh, I will," she said, and gave Kenny a smile over her shoulder.

"Go then," he said, almost softly, and nodded toward her adjacent quarters. "I will return shortly with nourishment for you."

Cursing her ill luck, she began to move, Kenny's fingers still closed around her forearm as he moved with her at first. His touch, though insistent, was light enough to take into account that she was not Wraith; careful not to bruise her. His apparent concern touched her. Once she was on her way, he let go, allowing her to make her own way toward her quarters. She took a breath. Once he was gone to get the food, she would come back and retrieve the chip.

"Doctor Keller," she froze when he called her name, suddenly afraid that he had read her mind. With another breath she turned around to face him, an awkward smile on her face. "I believe you have forgotten something."

Her mouth began to water with the suddenly nauseous feeling as he crossed toward her, and in his hand he held the data chip from the console. Fixing her in place with his light golden eyes, he set the warmed material into her hand, and carefully closed her fingers around it.

**

Todd threw back his head and roared, matching the young queen's feline snarl as he wrapped her hair around his fist, pulling back her head.

Subdued, she was at his mercy now, her feeding hand lay quiescent against his chest, and she was breathing hard as her snarl faded, as he looked down on her where she lay, supine beneath him; her life, his.

He wrenched his bloodied feeding hand from between them, the wounds on his own chest already healing beneath her hand. Hers would be slower to heal, he knew, as her body's generative energies were concentrated on a much more vital task.

Finally lowering his head to her exposed throat, he breathed in deeply of the scent streaming from her, already changing in the aftermath of their mating. Slowly he closed his teeth on the side of her neck, both marking her and delivering, in his saliva, the hormone that would calm her, bring her Zenith to an end and prevent her body from rejecting the litter of sub-commanders that would be kindled from this union, until the Hive readied the pods for them.

The young queen mewled a little, and curled aside as he pulled away from her to stalk naked to the bathing pool. Need still raged within him, almost a loneliness that sang through his blood. She had given to him, opened to him all that she had; that she was; given the past of her line and he had simply accepted, allowing her to bind herself to him, but giving no such allegiance in return.

He would not; could not, and now _he_ needed the touch of the one to whom he was bound, or at the very least, some semblance of it from the other that was his concubine.

Later, he would think on all that he had seen, all that he had learned from the young queen of her origins and the interdiction that had been broken in her creation, for now he needed only to attempt to relax; free himself from the lingering touch of this Hive's new Queen.

**

Acutely aware of the fact that the Queen would soon join him in the laboratory, the Hive Second looked down on the unfortunate creature that had once been one of the most gifted scientists the Wraith had ever known. He was a puzzle, with many pieces that the Second had not yet grasped, to slow into place. Perhaps this would give him the opportunity to finish the picture… or perhaps it would be the herald of another heedless, pointless death among their already depleted number.

Slowly he leaned down over the former scientist, searching his face for any sign of a break in the otherwise stoic sufferance under which this one was existing. He found nothing.

"A master of self control," he purred softly. "But… I wonder what it is you conceal."

"Spare me. You are here to bend me to her will," the former scientist hissed, "nothing more. So tell me then… what will _you_ do… when you fail? What price will you pay?"

"By what arrogance do you believe that I will fail?" The Hive Second knew that by answering as he had, he was engaging in the same, manipulative dance in which the others that had been sent to extract information or exact punishment on this one had participated. He knew that he should not, but the process of the other's mind, revealed in the harsh intrinsic refusal to engage, fascinated him.

"Others have tried… and failed," the scientist answered.

The Hive Second tilted his head, "The others all tried… physical injury. So crude – so… unnecessary."

Surprisingly the scientist chuckled as he asked, "And you think you have another way?"

"Like you, I can be… very persuasive," The Second said.

**

The mental push was subtle at first, but not so undetectable that Michael did not immediately realise, and try to hastily erect greater defences. Even as mentally adept as he was – as he had been – he was not fast enough to stave of the brunt of what came next.

A terrible, relentless pushing; a white hot needle of the purest force in a Wraith mind Michael had ever felt burst against every shield he had in place, seeking, searching with crushing mercilessness, firing every nerve and every neuron in his entire system.

Even as he cried out, and arched his back against the inferno searing his body, he fought… fought with everything he was – pushing back, turning what he could in a reciprocal assault against the Hive Second.

**

A complex DNA chain…a broken, withered link…

A wall of livid purple fury rushed at him, over him and pushed him back, back behind the broken, chipped wall of countless, pointless images, the memories of thousands of centuries of painful machinations until the other's voice sounded almost clear within his mind.

_-what… do you hope to gain from this… insanity?- _

Even the scientist's mental voice held the pain of their battle, like a wounded animal, fighting its way out of a corner, scarred, angry… afraid. He was hiding something more, something greater than the science the Hive Second found at the surface, just behind the shielding barriers it cost the other so much to maintain.

_{you will not prevail. she is stronger than you, will be your end. you were a fool to come here!}_

The scientist snarled, obviously gathering the desperation his pain afforded him and using it to push back, to try and thread between the woven strands of the Hive Second's defences.

_-__**your**__ agenda is hidden, Second, does she yet know? does anyone?-_

_{speculation} {speculation} {speculation}_

The Hive Second growled, leaning closer to the scientist, feeling the insidious burrowing of the other's mind, deterring and distracting him with words.

"It is only a simple thing she asks of you, one simple thing and then all of this is over… done. You can be fre—"

"There is no freedom in death!" The scientist roared, and against the spasms of muscle, and sinew, stretched his clawed fingers, digging his nails into the surface of the biogenetic bed, keening in pain.

**

Nothing Michael could do would control the searing agony. He fought his bonds, gouged at the surface on which they confined him, driven almost to insanity by it, and still he could not let them win… and he could still sense her nearby… watching… silent.

He longed for nothing more than to lash out, bury the sharpness of his claws in her soft throat and rip it away; could almost feel the blood, her blood, hot and satisfying, bathing his burning body – soothing the fire.

Fire…

Like the sudden prickling burn that had assaulted him before, in his own place, as he sought to control his own DNA; reverse the damage the Lanteans had done to his Wraith inheritance, and the terrible devastation one simple miscalculation on his part had wrought as he compounded Beckett's destructive error.

Fire…

The fatigue, the smouldering listlessness and sickness it had caused him, and his singular, frustrating inability to repair the harm, no matter what he tried – even to the use of the pluripotent stem cells of the infant's cord blood, infused with the remnants of the last of his preserved DNA… no choice then. Only the DNA of his Que—

"No!" he roared, and threw all of his weight behind the force of his roll toward the Hive Second, the restraint tearing his wrist as it buckled and rent in two, a clean slice, almost deep enough…

**

_"This remains my one hope, the only one that will prevent the necessity of my seeking out that one, taking the key to righting the fractured segment of my genetic code from the Queen herself," he said softly to the hybrid he had summoned. "It will take several days for this treatment to run its course, and I am entrusting you with this confidence. Do not betray me."_

_The hybrid inclined his head. "I will ensure your safety and that of the child; you need have no fear of that."_

_The Scientist cocked his head, turning to regard the hybrid then, and chuckled humourlessly. "But what __**must **__I fear, Lieutenant?"_

The Hive Second barely caught sight of the clawed hand sailing his way as he turned his head slightly when the hot, wet liquid fell against his cheek. He blocked with the wrist of his own left hand, sharp, metal tipped fingers then leading his own attack to pin the scientist in place once again, his strength piercing the other's flesh.

His face mere inches away from the scientist, he pushed still harder, forcing his way along pathways that lead to the sudden questions those things he had seen in the other's mind had kindled in him. He felt the discomfort, almost pain as the scientist fought his mental intrusion, valiantly, anchoring himself around synapses, plundering thoughts that the Hive Second sought quickly to shield with defences of his own. Still he searched and sought for answers…

_The planning was meticulous, and he was confident that he had almost every contingency in place; had covered every possibility, conceivable and several that were unlikely, even inconceivable, in the scheme that would lead him to salvation. Even so, he was afraid…Each step held risks, right from the instigation of his plan – allowing his rival scientist to capture him and bring him to that deadly Queen. He could not allow any to suspect that his capture was anything other than genuine, and if needs be he would sorely injure – even kill his rival – anything to ensure that he was not suspected… anything._

The Hive Second growled softly, tightening his hold as the scientist's desperate anger increased, his strength, drawing energy from his situation, increasing as the Second's mind swept through thought after memory. There was an infant… a child that, not only had this one tried to shield it from his searching, but which the very knowledge of its existence sat uneasily within the Queen's mind also.

_He was perfect. Barely hours old and already his mental awareness reached unerringly. Recognition – seeking the contact of a bond. The infant blinked his womb blue, gold flecked eyes, at first glance showing no other signs of his most special heritage…_

Special… why?

The Hive Second frowned, almost pulled away, glancing at the Queen and wondering if he would find more understandable, more sensible answers in her psyche than in the rapidly fracturing awareness in which he had immersed himself.

Suddenly the grip on his own mind tightened, a sharpness of pain running through him… as if in warning, as if to deter his becoming too close to some truth the other did not want him to see.

Threat and warning washed over him amid the sharpening pain as still he pushed and the memory shifted…

_For several moments he stood, looking down on the helpless Athosian man, smothering the emotions that were threatening his composure. "I have been watching you for some time. You disappoint me."_

_"I am the pariah that lurks in the dark corners of every heart, the demon that waits in the night to corrupt the innocent, pervert the just, and exploit the weak. I am the angel of death that will tear down the hypocrites, expose the false overlords and bring them to their __**knees**__. I. Am. Vengeance."_

_"Stop!" the man screamed, his back arching in fear and pain. "No more! Please… no more…"_

_The scientist calmed and moved away then, turning to draw a tray of surgical equipment closer to the table, with which he would perform the genetic splice – releasing the terrified Athosian from his mental grasp._

_"What," Kanaan gasped, "What are you doing?"_

_"Enough!" the scientist cut off the man's questions and protest, picked up a nearby syringe, and quickly injected the contents into the side of his neck._

"So…" the Hive Second gasped as he struggled with the scientist now, minds locked in the bitterness of the refusal to surrender to the other, to fail. "He was the child's biological progenitor… but what of the mother…?"

**

Irrational fury and hatred for the Hive Second flared to almost consume him at the mention of Teyla. She was already gone – long cold in death by now. This one could do nothing to harm her now.

Emotional agony rushed in to fill the void left by the physical, and snarling denial as the Second tried to pull from his mind an image of her, Michael lashed out with the full force of his mind as he sought to tear through the elaborate mental shielding erected by this Wraith. Who was he – how were his abilities so strong? So deadly?

He met the defensive force without retreat, his mind straining, pushing on in spite of the certainty he felt that the Hive Second was beyond him… an understanding strengthened by the horrifying and spreading weakness that rushed through his body.

Suddenly he could not breathe, he could not move, the sounds of the Hive deadened in an instant, drowned by his own labouring heartbeat. Still he pushed…

_A dark world… Acrid – broken…_

_Beyond the Portals, beyond the confines of any faction's feeding ground, beyond all of that which Wraith knew about space, that they considered their demesne. Beyond even the thoughts of planets beyond those stars known at the edges of this galaxy. Galactic coordinates, buried deep within this one's mind._

…a deeper, sharper pain… as his push met the angry interdiction, refusal, rejection… and then…

…nothing…

**

The queen stepped closer as The Abomination fell away from his struggles with the Hive Second… slumped to stillness, a thin trail of straw coloured fluid seeping from the sensory pits of the creature's slack face.

Softly she growled as the Hive Second straightened. His eyes bloodshot from the need to feed, brought on by what she knew had been a bitter, ruinous struggle.

"My Queen," the Hive Second managed to all but whisper.

"Now," she said, her self-satisfaction muted at the thought of what her desires had cost her. "We can begin."

**

The sensation came to her again from the depth of the broken dream. It was like an ache tugging at the edges of an acrid breath that covered her, smothered her in that consuming restlessness. Keller breathed in deeply as she came awake, her eyes opening to the dim light in her room. The scent of warm leather and a biting, heady, musky spice surrounded her, invading what space inside of her was not already filled with the burning of her existence.

His hand was in her hair again and in the pain of his closeness, Keller turned her head toward the touch, and stretched out a hand, reaching, reaching up…

**

Her fingers tangled in his hair, her nails raking against his scalp, drawing a hissed breath from him as she wrapped her hand in it, and arching toward him, drew him down. Her lips closed over his, crushing, desperate as her blunt teeth pulled them, her tongue drawing a scalding line over them. Todd could taste her; her needs – a heady intoxication and he opened to the kiss, plunging his tongue inside of her mouth and drinking deeply of her.

Her silent moan buzzed against the contact of their lips' conjoined sensitivity. The aching brushed at the edges of where he began reaching, painfully, with an unfulfilled mind to brush the edges of hers. He moved then, settled the hard length of all of him over her petite frame, pinning her… kept from him still by the rough press of the blankets.

**

The desperation pooled in a burning reservoir behind her eyes and in the swollen liquid feel of her sex as she tried to move beneath him. Empty and needing to be filled, and detesting the want that drove her trembling hands to seek the buckle of his coat and twist it free, she gasped as he broke the kiss and sank his teeth into the top of her shoulder. She arched against him and he pulled back enough that her fluttering hands could free the fastening of his coat… shaking with half realised sobs at the ache that spread from the bite to caress her centre with the imagined, longed for touch.

Keller lay, panting… breathless as Todd shrugged off the heavy leather coat and pulled the shirt off over his head… risen over her like some great dark sun.

_You fucking bastard!_

The fall of leather onto the floor of the Hive, like the slap she had wanted, so badly, to land so many days before. Instead she reached for him again, pulled him closer, her hands like ice while the rest of her burned with fever.

**

She pulled him back to her, the blanket now rough against his skin. The aching emptiness inside of him swirled and danced as he reached for the almost-relief of Keller's presence, and growling he plundered a kiss again, tasting her blood as he nipped her swollen lips in his hungry need.

The risen length of him pulsed and strained against the tight leather that held him, and he pulled away from the kiss, his eyes seeking hers, finding her pupils wide and dark, the colour of her irises hidden in her desire. Todd fell into them as Keller slowly ran her fingertips along the Wraith spiral at his shoulder that trailed characters along his arm as though by her touch, she could read him. Slowly she trailed the touch across his wrist, to cup his feeding hand in her palm. She turned her head to their joined hands and moaning softly nipped at the heel of his.

His head fell back, and the hissing, primal growl came from deep in his core as the hot, wet press of her tongue ran along the puckered length of his feeding slit, filling his palm with the aching burn of necessity, of need denied, and when at last she ceased her almost tender assault, and he could look on her once more, she had drawn aside the blanket from between them.

**

The enzyme burned her throat as she swallowed, raising her head from his hand to find his eyes, almost pleading with him, her skin prickled with gooseflesh at the change as she pulled the blanket aside.

A dizzying, vital swirling possessed her as his eyes, starving for contact, ran upward on her body. She all but felt his gaze, like a touch over the mound of her sex, where it lay, uncovered by the shirt she wore, when she had writhed beneath him. He reached for her, his clawed hand tearing at the shirt, as his eyes still climbed the creamy planes of her belly, her breasts, swollen and exquisitely painful in need of his touch.

She gave a soft cry as he met her need, and she felt the delicate, almost teasing draw of his feeding hand as he ran its deadly touch over her breasts and belly… not enough… not enough to more than magnify her resolute need, the memory of the feel of him inside of her.

_His ridges caressed her, played against her as, in one smooth and seemingly endless moment he possessed her entirely, claiming her with the pressing of his hips to hers, filling her completely._

She reached to press her hand hard against the swell of him that she could feel against the leather that pressed against her hip… meaning to give to him the maddening ache of barely held, primal impulse.

His feeding hand skimmed low over her belly, and she moaned, long and low as his fingers parted the silk softness of her soaked folds.

**

Todd glided his touch over the surface of her, pressed into her as deep as he could reach and she arched her back to bring his touch deeper still. Her essence drenched him, saturated his feeding slit as he opened to taste her, draw her deeper into him, running the length of it over her swollen clitoris as he withdrew the touch from inside. Maddeningly slowly he repeated the motion, pushing his touch deep inside as he tasted the erect nub of her desire, tight with all the control he could muster as he poised on the edge of feeding from her there.

She cried out, and he growled in answer as she ground her hips, her muscles tight around him, as hungry and as needful as the lightning storm that raged inside of him, until he drew the torturous touch away from her.

A moment of stillness… of breathless silence as he drew away to free himself from the rest of his clothing… still pulsing with the feel of her, the taste of her… the need.

**

Keller reached for him as he returned, as his hard fingers grasped her hips. She framed him with her knees and guided the thick length of him to find her open and wanting. He growled as he filled her, and she answered with a moan as the length of him, his ridges almost counting each of her muscles, tremulous around him, possessed the whole of her. There was a difference this time… something that lay over him that she had never before seen in him, no matter how often he had come to her and she had given herself to him.

The sharp agony of his spreading glans inside the very depth of her brought the deep, hot flush of trembling along her limbs, squeezing the muscles around him and driving him deeper still. She cried out, and pushed her hips against him, the pain of it leaving her needing fulfilment, reaching for more, and growling he began to move.

Slow and deliberate, leaning down to nip at her shoulder once more, Todd undulated over her, barely at first, and then with growing completeness… of abandonment and possession each in turn, and sobbing with the need of it she met the rise and fall of his hips with her own. Each of them reaching, burning, and desperately answering the passion of their needs.

**

There wasn't a part of Todd that didn't hunger with it… ache with it… his muscles trembling with reaching for a part of him that was denied by time and distance… like a rage growing inside of him, he strained and fought against the agony of the missing.

Sweet sensations, the feel of the trembling clasp of Keller's sex around him, the soft wetness of her spilling onto his swelling sacs as the press of their bodies together caressed him bringing him closer to bright agony of release… of longing to fill her with his heat, his life… to hear her cry as he would bring her relief from the terrible consuming ache he knew she shared.

Keller raised her hips to meet his, encouraging, needful, as if she were striving to meet his demands… reaching for the moment that seemed always out of reach. She was breathing hard, her muscles tightening, squeezing him, moving and playing over his ridges even as she cried out in answer to his sudden deeper thrusts. Wanting more that he so badly needed to give.

He slipped a hand under the small of her back, and possessed her deeper, until her cries became growls of need and he rose over her again, his feeding hand still wet with her juices pressed against her chest… filled with the tingling aching hunger he longed to obey.

Her answering deeply primal moan broke over him as a storm driven wave, and snarling, he threw back his head, fully open inside of her and came hard… milked hotly by her answering, shattering climax.

**

Still wracked by the trembling pulsing climax that had ripped through her, breathless and all but sobbing with the aftermath of it, Keller drew his head down to rest against her breast.

But for their ragged breathing, there was silence, no need to voice the truth. Her hand trembled, and she felt an agony of confusion as she raised it to gently comb her fingers through his hair.

**

Not moving, save for the rise and fall of his tattered breath, he swallowed hard, tasting the slight coppery scent amid the mingling of their essences. He tried to raise his head, but her fingers running in his hair held him close against her breast. He opened his mind to reach for comfort in the insipid _almost_ of the present, then rumbling with the pain of comfortlessness, tried to reach beyond to the one…

_~parmhuna~_

…but instead there was darkness as exhaustion crept over him, as Keller's fingers, too, stilled.

**

The awareness of something intangible, ineffable, woke him suddenly. It was early, and Keller still slept soundly, half uncovered, at his side. He leaned over her, meaning to cover her, knowing she had on more than one occasion complained of the temperature aboard the Hive… but stopped as he grew closer, running his hand down the length of her narrow back, and over her hips. Tilting his head he took in a slow, deep breath, letting out a rumbling growl as he finally moved back, covering her almost gently, before rising from the bed, and beginning to make himself presentable, and to dress.

It was time to rid himself of those of the Humans he no longer wanted or needed aboard his Hive. Silently, he sent the command to return to within the network of portals, and to set a course for the nearest world possessing a portal. It would not take them long to reach it.

**

Jennifer knew even as she woke that she would ache more than she ever had before, and she was not mistaken. She made a soft sound as she began to sit up, some way between a gasp and a moan, and instinctively knew that Todd had turned toward her from where he stood, dressed in only his pants and undershirt.

"You should have woken me," she told him, starting to get up, grabbing the robe that had somehow appeared beside the bed. "We have a lot of work to do."

"Hmm," he said with a little shrug of his shoulders, "you should rest. We are already en route back into the vicinity of the… Stargates, as you call them."

"You're kidding me, no?" Jennifer said, half kneeling on the bed, one foot on the floor as she fastened the robe about herself. "We haven't finished he— there yet. We didn't take environmental samples, didn't find the boy's _father_ to take DNA samples from him…"

"I believe we have all the data we need in the information we took from—"

"Michael's data is all very well, but—"

"We have what we need, Jennifer," Todd said firmly. She'd learned that when he used that tone he was not usually amenable to persuasion. That morning, it irritated her.

"Then what about Sheppard?" she asked, standing on both feet and beginning to walk toward Todd. "Did we find anything that we can adapt to reverse what the other Michael did to him?"

Todd looked at her for a moment, his head tilted as though he was trying to make a decision, and then he spoke.

"The retrovirus that the one from the alternate existence used to infect Sheppard is practically a reversal of the original retrovirus used by your Doctor Beckett, weak, and impermanent." He shrugged again, adding dismissively, "I could have cured him the moment he came aboard my Hive."

Jennifer froze mid step.

"Excuse me?" she gasped, incredulously.

"Without the serum we have been giving him he would have long since reverted to his original state and by now recovered from any lingering weakness," he said. "The pain he was feeling was the beginning of that process – a useful barometer for measuring when an additional dose of the serum was needed."

"You son-of-a-bitch," she said, still not believing she had heard correctly.

"You must understand, Jennifer," Todd told her conversationally, as though he saw nothing wrong with what he'd done. "The importance of our mission—"

"You had _me_ injecting Sheppard with a serum that _halted_ his recovery from this thing?" she said. Her colour rose exponentially to her anger as her mind started to put all of the pieces together. "Made _me_ your accomplice in this… this…"

"I told you," Todd started, but she didn't want to hear him make whatever his excuse for this inexcusable betrayal sound reasonable… acceptable. She wasn't going to let him manipulate her any more.

"Don't!" she snapped, turning away, "Don't even talk to me!"

"Jennifer—"

Her mind was racing, and it didn't take her long to determine the reason. Of course, keeping Sheppard out of the way, keeping him weak and unable to intervene strengthened Todd's position. Sheppard, the one person she might have been able to go to. McKay, though he meant well, was not the one to confront Todd about anything that circumstances and Todd's calculating manner had brought her to until she was powerless, no worse than that, complicit in his complete dominant possession of her.

She heard him move closer and spun on his, pure vitriol as she spat, "Don't you touch me, you bastard! There's been more than enough of that!"

"Calm yourself, my—"

"Your _nothing_!" she all but screamed at him, and launched herself toward him, her hands slapping against his chest with such force she felt him almost move a step back, and the jarring force ached against her wrist and shoulders. Undeterred, her eyes burning with the anger, the hate she felt for him in that moment – but more for herself – driving her on. She pushed him again, slapping her hand against his immovable chest. "You _used_ me… manoeuvred me into _every_ part of your… your… sick little— what is it with you, Todd, a game?"

**

He growled softly, but made no other answer, as he slowly started to wrap his mind into hers. Her anger was a danger to her, a danger he could not allow. Taking a step closer he walked right into the next of her furious slaps. It connected with his face. Such an action was unacceptable, but circumstances were different.

As his mind touched hers, as he reached for her wrists to restrain her, she pushed at him again and he felt her emotions coming to a peak. A whirl of boiling fury aimed his way but turned against herself.

"Listen to me," he rumbled, but he knew even as he spoke that his words were nowhere near to reaching her. She fought him, slapping away his hands as he reached for her, and again he allowed it, for the moment. She could do him little harm in any case, but if she would not calm then he would have no other choice but to enforce his restraint… for her own safety.

"I should have known!" she hiccupped, pausing in her relentless attempts to land her fists against his chest hard enough to move him. Angry tears began falling from her eyes, staining her reddened cheeks, and she forced more words through a choked throat. "From the moment you contacted me, you _played_ me… backed me into a fucking corner with nowhere to go, you… bastard, you… fucker… you… you cunt!"

She screamed the words into his face as he finally took hold of her flailing wrists, bending closer to her to do so, and through the connection with her tumultuous mind the meaning of her words assaulted him full force. Pulling her closer, he shook her slightly.

"No," he said firmly, repeating the motion. "I spoke only the truth when I contacted you in Atlantis. Your acumen is impressive, my Jennifer, and from the moment I realised more of you, I wanted you."

She tried to look away, but he shifted his grasp to take both wrists into one hand and grasp her chin, bringing her reluctant gaze back to meet with his.

"I wanted you," he repeated firmly, "And you—"

"No," she moaned, wrenching her hands free, heedless of the scratches his fingers must have caused, to slap him again and again, before he pulled her closer again, holding her struggling form against his, tipping back her head, and capturing her lips in a crushing kiss.

She fought him still, but her struggles slowed, the fists she pushed against his shoulders opened slowly, grasped the fabric of his shirt and clung to him, trembling as she surrendered to the kiss, until the arm he slipped around her narrow waist supported her fully as the exhaustion of the fight claimed what was left of her strength.

Slowly, he brought the intense kiss to an end, and growling softly in concern, as still she wept against his shoulder as he lifted her, entirely without effort, into his arms, he carried her toward the bed and set her down gently.

"No," she whispered, and he felt her cling to the denial of her desire.

"Believe what you wish, my Jennifer," he told her softly, "but the truth will become apparent in time. Rest."

***

Act 5

The young queen swayed as she made her way slowly across the room, and he thought she looked as sick as any he had ever seen in her gestational need. Worried she would falter, lose consciousness before she even reached the chamber he had taken great pains to prepare, the Second hurried toward her and caught her arm as she moaned softly, fighting to keep to her feet.

"It is time, my Queen," he said in soft respect, nodding to his own subordinate commander, who came to the queen's other side. "You cannot hold them any more, lest you endanger both them, and yourself. Your symbiosis is at an end. Come."

Together he and the other Wraith commander assisted the queen toward the chamber. Lying horizontally, already it was part filled with luminous blue fluid, its base already writhing with tendrils, oozing viscous enzyme in their almost desperate thrashing.

"Wh—where are my attendants?" the queen demanded, but there was no strength in her voice.

"There will _be_ no attendants," the Second told her. "They are unnecessary."

Carefully he helped her to climb the steps, and then step down into the chamber, lifting off the robe that had covered her as his assistant supported her when she lowered herself into the luminous fluid.

Immediately the thrashing among the tendrils began to increase, each of them moving as if searching, brushing against the queen, seeking contact.

_:~let them go, my Queen~: :~let them go~: :~let them go~:_

"Release them to the Hive," the Second hissed softly as the first of the tendrils joined with her.

**

"Now I _know_ you're out of your mind," Sheppard offered, turning suddenly from packing what few belongings he had brought aboard the Hive to glare at Todd suspiciously. "She's coming with us."

"Sheppard," Todd said, "Our research is far from at an end, the benefits to both of us could be… enormous."

"With us. Back to Atlantis. End of subject." Sheppard spelled it out in no uncertain terms.

Ever since Todd had finally found the cure to his hybridisation, Sheppard had been unable to shake the feeling that there was something else going on, some hidden agenda on the Wraith's part and he was certain that he wasn't going to like it if he found out what it was. Better for all of them then if they left the Hive sooner rather than after any kind of delay… and that had been when Todd had informed him that he would rather Keller remain behind to continue their joint research.

Sheppard had tried to talk to Keller about it, to actually find out whether she thought it would be beneficial, and even now he couldn't believe that he had even considered the proposal, but Keller had been unwilling to discuss the matter, and seemed somewhat out of sorts… stressed.

Todd rumbled, and Sheppard knew he was about to say something, to argue, and he was ready for whatever he had to do or say to the Wraith to make him understand that there was no way in hell he was leaving Jennifer behind, when the illumination in the Hive dimmed to near darkness, and the organic hum of the hyperspace engines ceased abruptly as the Hive instantly dropped back into normal space.

Instead, Sheppard looked up at Todd and demanded, "What the fuck is going on, Todd?"

**

The young queen moaned and hissed as the genetic material of her young was excised from her swollen body by the action of the fluids and the enzymes secreted into the fluid, transported by the tendrils and tubules to the waiting generative pods. There they would complete their gestation, supported by the Hive, part of the Hive as much as its consciousness would be a part of them.

_:~leave us~:_

The Second gave his silent command into the mind of the obedient sub-commander, watching as he exited the incubation room before he closed to lock the door behind him.

"So, my Queen," he said softly as he returned, looking down on where she lay, unable to move, completely at his mercy, and at the mercy of the orders given to him by his commander. There was no question of his loyalty, not in this matter. "You and your ignorant dam think you can bring to us the beginnings of all that is to come?"

There was a good deal of contempt in his voice, equal contempt with which his commander had spoken with him of this one, and the young he had sired on her. There was much work to be done, and he felt a flush of unexpected pride that he had been sufficiently trusted to be the one to undertake its inception.

"No," the queen breathed through her pain, answering him…

**

Todd reached out mentally, interfacing with the semi-sentient heart of the Hive. He was almost certain he knew why the Hive had dropped out of hyperspace, and was diverting almost all power away from non-essential systems, but he wanted to be sure that his suspicions were correct. They were and his smile was feral as he answered Sheppard.

"Merely a stop along the way to allow for generation of critical—"

Sheppard lunged at him before he could even finish the half truth, and still partly linked with the Hive as he was, Todd was somewhat caught unawares and had been driven back against the bulkhead, with his own knife held at his throat in Sheppard's hand.

"Stop _lying_ to me, you son-of-a-bitch!" Sheppard spat. "There's something going on here. You've been working to some kind of agenda that you've tried to keep hidden from all of us, and I _swear_, Todd, if I find out that any of what all this is about," he gestured briefly around the room with the knife before bringing it quickly back to Todd's throat, "any of what you've done these last few weeks has hurt Keller, I will hunt you down, and I will kill you!"

"Really, Sheppard," he purred, steeling his temper, burying it under layers of sarcasm, "I fail to see what you could possibly think I have done that could have hurt any of you, particularly Doctor Keller. Are you not cured? Have we not, Jennifer and I, advanced our understanding of the Hoffan Syndrome, and the process by which a solution could be reached?"

"To what end?" Sheppard demanded, and in an action Todd saw born of angry contempt, the man pushed away from him, and tossed the blade to the ground beneath them before walking away, running his hand through his short Human hair. "I mean, yeah, I get you need to find a way to save your people from dying because of feeding but… why go running all the way to some… backwater planet on Michael's say-so. You clearly hate him – you're enemies, so why the hell trust anything you find from him. It doesn't make any sense."

"It makes perfect sense when you consider—"

"What, Todd? When you consider what?"

"I am Wraith, John Sheppard."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

**

He did not care that she was watching him… or that she had seen, albeit briefly, the utter contempt with which he viewed her, and the position she so tenuously held. The Second pulled the cap from the first of the syringes his Commander had given him, and inserted the needle carefully into the tendril supplying life support to one of the embryonic Wraith.

Slowly he injected the serum.

**

Stepping away from the bulkhead wall, Todd leaned down to retrieve the knife and slip it back into the sheath at his waist. As he straightened up, he met and held Sheppard's eyes and purred a single word.

"Evolution."

**

Finding a way past the pain at last, a way to reach the Second's mind, the young queen finally completed her answer to his former question.

_))…That falls to another than I ((_

**

"You sent for me," Isla said softly as she let herself into the Elder Hive Second's quarters.

"Come, Isla," he said quietly, and without turning he held out his hand to her. "I have need of your comfort."

Even as she crossed the room to where he was sitting she could see the tension in his shoulders, the way it took great effort to hold his arm so straight for so long. She slipped her hand into his, and offered none of the usual hesitancy a worshipper might give as he drew her round to stand before him.

"You are weary," she observed softly, tilting her head to the side. "Allow me to draw a bath for you."

"In a while," he answered quietly, and drew her hand toward his face, to nip lightly at her wrist as he guided her fingers into his hair.

Understanding his unspoken desire, Isla deftly began to remove the tight braids from his hair, and he drew her closer still to rest his head on her shoulder as she did. For just a moment she felt the pain that was roiling through his head and down into his spinal column, and in answer to her unspoken question, received an impression of the one the Wraith of this Hive called 'The Abomination.'

"He is far from that, Isla," The Hive Second murmured, his breath fluttering like wings over her bare shoulder. "It is ignorance by which they name him such."

"He knows?" she asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"More than that," the Hive Second said, lifting his head from her shoulder, and looking at her in earnest, fixing her with his bloodshot, golden eyes. He whispered, "He understands."

**

Her hair still dripping from the long, hot bath she'd taken – not the first by any stretch of the imagination – Keller wrapped herself in the enormous purple bath-robe, letting its softness caress the remaining scratches and bruises, and padded barefoot into the adjacent room of her quarters.

It was late, and she knew she should be sleeping, but as she moved toward the bed her eyes fell on the Wraith data chip that she had brought with her from Todd's Hive containing several of the more useful pieces of Michael's data that McKay had managed to decrypt, and also the data that he had tried to conceal from her.

Quickly grabbing a towel to wrap around her hair, she turned on her laptop, and plugged in the hardware that would allow her to read the Wraith data chip, hardly even waiting for the computer to finish booting up before she pushed the chip home and called up the file.

As the computer ran the decode and decrypt program she pulled the towel from around her hair and started to rub it dry, glancing absently at the pages as they were displayed briefly before moving on to the next. She recognised the genome maps, and computer simulation mapping with a certain degree of bored resignation. If she were going to crack the problem of curing the sickness caused by exposure to the Hoffan drug using the research she had undertaken with Todd while aboard his Hive, she would need to go through many more of those maps in much greater detail. The prospect did not fill her with contentment.

The computer flashed to another screen and a new set of maps, and simulations that ran, and instinctively she recognised the distinctive pattern of her own DNA, but the other… and the one running in the simulation…?

Before she could make sense of it, the screen flashed on, decrypting more of the file. She reached out quickly and stabbed at the keyboard in an attempt to halt the computer's progress and make it go back to the previous screen.

"No, no, no, no, no," she spoke urgently to the computer as though appealing to it would make it cooperate, "Wait a second, I wasn't done with that—"

As the screen turned back, as her eyes finally managed to take in the information from the maps and the simulation, she gripped the wet towel tightly in her hands. She could not feel its soft sodden fibres. Her hands felt numb, the first sign of her gathering fear as the cold sweat began to drip over her spine, and prickle against her forehead.

"Oh-God-no!" The horrified voice of dread burst from her in a rush of breath.

Her legs were also numb, and she felt as though ice was flowing through them, not the warmth of her blood, and barely able to stand, let alone balance to pull on her pants and a shirt, she dressed as quickly as she could, and all but ran from her quarters, heading for the infirmary, and the adjacent laboratory.

**

Scalding dread and a murderous rage gripped Todd as he stormed through the still burning debris of the Ecruo village, a single destination in mind. He jumped, and turning, snarled as a smouldering timber cracked and fell to the ruins of the rest of the building beneath it.

He did not need to see the withered, puckered bodies all but lined up along the route of devastation to know what had happened there. The answer screamed at him from every turn. A rival had done this.

Desperately he reached out along the connection, through his bond to find Alicia, his parmhuna, but the answering touch of her mind was tenuous at best, and failing fast.

"Commander..."

Slowing his steps, his pounding heart marking time against the backdrop of damage that had once been the village of worshippers at the heart of his feeding grounds, Todd rounded on the sub-commander that came to deliver his report. He knew from the other's mind that the news would be bad even before the other Wraith opened his mouth to speak.

"We have searched. There are no signs of survivors," the other Wraith took a hasty step backwards as Todd snarled. "The likelihood is that—"

"I know what is likely!" he roared, reaching out, pure lightning in his anger, to grasp his underling by the throat. "Do not _lecture_ me like some… barely hatched drone!"

"Forgive—" the sub-commander rasped, lowering his gaze before his commander.

"Find the one responsible!" Todd spat, and released the other Wraith without another word, knowing he would be obeyed. He did not have time for this. Barely a thread of the once strongly tangible connection with Alicia remained and every muscle in his body constricted painfully.

She was dying.

**

"Ronon, a word if you please."

Ronon sighed as Woolsey's voice cut across the hum of the deactivating gate. The base commander was the last person Ronon wanted to talk to, and he wondered what he'd done wrong this time.

Forcing himself to assume an air of patience he turned to face the other man.

"Mister Woolsey," he said tiredly, "Can't it wait? I—"

"Professor Varnerin informed me that you have been out looking for Teyla – that she's not with her people," Woolsey said.

Ronon frowned, wondering how in the name of the ancestors they'd got wind of that snippet of information, until he realised it was probably from Zelenka. He wanted to be angry with the Czech, but he knew that Radek would only have been trying to help find her. It was his own fault for involving the scientist in the first place.

"I've been looking for Teyla, yeah," he said, giving Woolsey a challenging look, all but daring him to ask why.

"And did you find her?" Woolsey asked instead.

Ronon sighed again, becoming smothered by his worry. She was not in any of the places he had looked for her, and there was no way for him to know, wherever she was, that she was well. Wordlessly he shook his head.

"Don't you think that's a little worrying?" Woolsey asked.

"I worry about her, yeah," Ronon answered, and he made it more than clear in his tone that he would not hear a word spoken against her.

"Ronon, I didn't mean—"

"Yeah, you did," Ronon cut him off. "You both did, and I'm telling you, if there's any reason she left her people it's because she's trying to find her son - nothing more."

"All right," Woolsey said, "I believe you – but where does that leave us in respect of finding her?"

"You can't," Ronon said, and his heart fell as he realised it was the truth. "She's nowhere. I visited her friends, went back to M5B-217, even tried going back to Athos."

"Athos, Athos?" Woolsey asked, blinking owlishly at him.

"Yeah," Ronon rumbled, "The shrine to her parents is there after all. I thought—"

He stopped, unable to go on.

Woolsey sighed.

"All right, then we—"

"She's nowhere, Woolsey," he said, "Not even news of her. No word."

"Well… I suppose we'll have to assume that no news is good news," the base commander said with what Ronon supposed was supposed to be a reassuring smile. In this instance, however, he rather doubted that the Earth Human's idiom would hold. He had a very bad feeling lodged deep inside his heart.

**

The stench of blood, both older and new, assaulted him more strongly as he pushed his way into the cabin… other scents too, strong and sickly – scents that brought a greater anger still upon his already wounded psyche.

Even in the half-light he spotted her immediately, lying on the blood-soaked hearth where the remnants of the fire barely smouldered. Her clothing was torn, and scratches, gouges stood livid against the white flesh of her belly, her thighs and shoulders, and bites descended from her all but torn throat – down over the front of her body, not sparing the soft mounds of her breasts.

"Alicia," he could not stop her name escaping from his lips, desperate and broken, and came to his knees at her side, reaching for her, to cradle her closer against him even as the scent of another Wraith's fulfilment strengthened – sensed even before he saw the viscous splash of clearing milky, enzyme filled fluid coating her hip and her belly.

She made no sound as he tried to wrap her in the remnants of her torn clothing, seeking to warm her, reaching for her neck to assure him that she yet lived. Desolation lodged within him, pulling him down, threatening to overwhelm him as her dangerously weak pulse fluttered against his fingers.

_~parmhuna… I am here~_

Nothing…

Todd put back his head, snarling and keening in one and the same moment… certain in that moment that he knew the one responsible.

**

Keller could barely keep her hand steady enough to avoid opening a huge gash in the blood vessel raised by the tourniquet as she took her blood sample. Her mouth was alternately desert dry, and sickeningly wet with bile as the thought, the terrifying possibility entered her mind again and again.

Bracing herself against the bench, as her legs barely held her upright, she moved to place the blood sample she had taken into the scanner that would analyse the biochemical contents, providing her with a full blood panel. She would feel better when she had answers – when she knew.

Feeling suddenly faint, and trembling with the effort to hold on to consciousness she hooked the nearby stool with her foot and drew it closer so that she could sit – head in hands.

The first of the tears found her barely a breath later…

_Todd threw back his head, arching his back in a sudden momentary hesitation in the thrust inside of her, a deep and almost painful press and she felt a heat flooding into her as he roared in climax. The momentary sweet pain broke the fragile string of tension holding back her own and crying out she followed him._

…snowballed until she was almost sobbing… her chest, painful from it. She slipped from the stool, knocking medical equipment to the floor as she made her way to where the surgical gowns were stored, and pulling one down she began to strip, heedless of whether there were any others present. At the same time, with a hand that trembled almost uncontrollably she fixed her earpiece into place and tapped it several times over to activate it.

"Doctor Meronine," she tried, but was sure she failed, to hide the tears that thickened her voice, "this is Jennifer, report to the infirmary immediately."

"_Doctor Keller?_" Meronine's voice sounded full of concern as she answered the radio call.

"Please, Angela," Keller barely caught the sob, "Just come. There's something I need you to do. I need you to do it _now_."

"_I'm on my way,_" Meronine answered.

Keller grabbed a surgical directive sheet and in handwriting she was sure would be unrecognisable, she wrote up the order, before she finished getting herself ready for the procedure she had just sanctioned. It was a gross abuse of protocol, and of her authority as CMO, but her terror, mounting by the moment as the soft bleeps of the scanner began to seep into her awareness, demanded nothing less of her.

She crossed the room again, and ripped the hard copy from the printer, twisting the paper over and over until it ripped in her hands, and all but overloading the computer interface in her haste to destroy the electronic copy.

"God, Jennifer!" Doctor Meronine's exclamation made her jump, and the vial containing her blood sample slipped from her fingers to shatter on the hard floor of the laboratory. "Jennifer, what's wrong? Why don't you sit down? I'll clean that up."

As the other doctor tried to move past her, Jennifer gripped her arm as tightly as she could.

"Leave it," she craved desperately and handed her the written order. "I need this procedure. I need you to do it… do it now."

"Jen?" Meronine frowned, her voice full of concern as she cast her eyes over the written sheet. "Jen, are you sure? I didn't even know you were—is this even necessary? We should… we should get you under the scanner first, it might not even be necessary, something this drastic, I mean a D an—"

"No," Keller almost shook the other doctor. "It's the only way, it's been too long already. Please, Angela, don't make me find some way to do this myself."

**

She was barely breathing. He raised his head from beside hers, where he held her tight against his chest. He was out of time, with only one possible course of action left to him in order to save her life.

Letting out a long, slow breath that trembled with unexpressed emotional pain, rage and something far greater than fear, he steeled himself for what he had to do, and slowly, pushed his feeding hand against her chest.

_~I only hope that you will find some way to forgive me~_

The life force flowed from him strongly at first, the barbs in his feeding hand anchoring deep as he gave her the Gift, but what should have been a rapturous sharing became the sharp bite of pain in the gland at the head of his shoulder.

He snarled denial against it, continuing, the Gift of Life weaker now as he sought to heal her as much as he was able, until the pain became a paroxysmal agony, and he fell back, away from her, the fall breaking the contact between them, his body trembling – convulsing… dying.

_Fin_

_A/N - thanks to Isolde Jansma for helping me out at a crucial point, when I was stuck._


End file.
